M. tuberculosis antigens

ABSTRACT

The present invention is based on the identification and characterization of a number of novel  M. tuberculosis  derived proteins and protein fragments. The invention is directed to the polypeptides and immunologically active fragments thereof, the genes encoding them, immunological compositions such as vaccines and skin test reagents containing the polypeptides.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of:

[0002] U.S. application Ser. No. 09/289,388 filed Apr. 12, 1999, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/465,640 filed Jun. 5, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,077, issued Sep. 21, 1999, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/123,182 filed Sep. 20, 1993, now abandoned, and a continuation-in-part of PCT/DK94/00273, filed Jul. 1, 1994, published as WO95/01441, and claiming priority from Danish application 0798/93, filed Jul. 2, 1993;

[0003] U.S. application Ser. No. 09/050,739 filed Mar. 30, 1998, which is claims priority from U.S. provisional application Serial No. 60/044,624 filed Apr. 18, 1997;

[0004] Andersen et al., application Ser. No. 09/791,171, filed Feb. 20, 2001, as a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/050,739; and

[0005] U.S. application Ser. No. 09/246,191, filed Dec. 30, 1998, which claims priority from U.S. provisional 60/070,488 filed Jan. 5, 1998.

[0006] Reference is also made to commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,776.

[0007] Each of these patents, patent applications and patent publications, as well as all documents cited in the text of this application, and references cited in the documents referred to in this application (including references cited in the aforementioned patents, patent applications and patent publications or during their prosecution) are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0008] The present application discloses new immunogenic polypeptides and new immunogenic compositions based on polypeptides derived from the short time culture filtrate of M. tuberculosis.

GENERAL BACKGROUND

[0009] Human tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is a severe global health problem, responsible for approx. 3 million deaths annually, according to the WHO. The worldwide incidence of new tuberculosis (TB) cases had been falling during the 1960s and 1970s but during recent years this trend has markedly changed in part due to the advent of AIDS and the appearance of multidrug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis.

[0010] The only vaccine presently available for clinical use is BCG, a vaccine whose efficacy remains a matter of controversy. BCG generally induces a high level of acquired resistance in animal models of TB, but several human trials in developing countries have failed to demonstrate significant protection. Notably, BCG is not approved by the FDA for use in the United States because BCG vaccination impairs the specificity of the Tuberculin skin test for diagnosis of TB infection.

[0011] This makes the development of a new and improved vaccine against TB an urgent matter, which has been given a very high priority by the WHO. Many attempts to define protective mycobacterial substances have been made, and different investigators have reported increased resistance after experimental vaccination. However, the demonstration of a specific long-term protective immune response with the potency of BCG has not yet been achieved.

[0012] Immunity to M. tuberculosis is characterized by some basic features; specifically sensitized T lymphocytes mediates protection, and the most important mediator molecule seems to be interferon gamma (IFN-γ).

[0013]M. tuberculosis holds, as well as secretes, several proteins of potential relevance for the generation of a new TB vaccine. For a number of years, a major effort has been put into the identification of new protective antigens for the development of a novel vaccine against TB. The search for candidate molecules has primarily focused on proteins released from dividing bacteria. Despite the characterization of a large number of such proteins only a few of these have been demonstrated to induce a protective immune response as subunit vaccines in animal models, most notably ESAT-6 and Ag85B (Brandt et al 2000 Infect. Imm. 68:2; 791-795).

[0014] In 1998 Cole et al published the complete genome sequence of M. tuberculosis and predicted the presence of approximately 4000 open reading frames (Cole et al 1998). Following the sequencing of the M. tuberculosis genome, nucleotide sequences comprising Rv0288, Rv3019c or Rv3017c are described in various databases and putative protein sequences for the above sequences are suggested, Rv3017c either comprising methionin or valine as the first amino acid (The Sanger Centre database (http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/M_tuberculosis), Institut Pasteur database (http://genolist.pasteur.fr/TubercuList) and GenBank (http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)). However important, this sequence information cannot be used to predict if the DNA is translated and expressed as proteins in vivo. More importantly, it is not possible on the basis of the sequences, to predict whether a given sequence will encode an immunogenic or an inactive protein. The only way to determine if a protein is recognized by the immune system during or after an infection with M. tuberculosis is to produce the given protein and test it in an appropriate assay as described herein.

[0015] Diagnosing M. tuberculosis infection in its earliest stage is important for effective treatment of the disease. Current diagnostic assays to determine M. tuberculosis infection are expensive and labour-intensive. In the industrialised part of the world the majority of patients exposed to M. tuberculosis receive chest x-rays and attempts are made to culture the bacterium in vitro from sputum samples. X-rays are insensitive as a diagnostic assay and can only identify infections in a very progressed stage. Culturing of M. tuberculosis is also not ideal as a diagnostic tool, since the bacteria grows poorly and slowly outside the body, which can produce false negative test results and take weeks before results are obtained. The standard tuberculin skin test is an inexpensive assay, used in third world countries, however it is far from ideal in detecting infection because it cannot distinguish M. tuberculosis-infected individuals from M. bovis BCG-vaccinated individuals and therefore cannot be used in areas of the world where patients receive or have received childhood vaccination with bacterial strains related to M. tuberculosis, e.g. a BCG vaccination.

[0016] Animal tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium bovis, which is closely related to M. tuberculosis and within the tuberculosis complex. M. bovis is an important pathogen that can infect a range of hosts, including cattle and humans. Tuberculosis in cattle is a major cause of economic loss and represents a significant cause of zoonotic infection. A number of strategies have been employed against bovine TB, but the approach has generally been based on government-organised programmes by which animals deemed positive to defined screening test are slaughtered. The most common test used in cattle is Delayed-type hypersensitivity with PPD as antigen, but alternative in vitro assays are also developed. However, investigations have shown the both the in vivo and the in vitro tests have a relative low specificity, and the detection of false-positive is a significant economic problem (Pollock et al 2000). There is therefore a great need for a more specific diagnostic reagent, which can be used either in vivo or in vitro to detect M. bovis infections in animals.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0017] The present invention is related to preventing, treating and detecting infections caused by species of the tuberculosis complex (M. tuberculosis, M.bovis, M. africanum) by the use of a polypeptide comprising an immunogenic portion of one or more of the polypeptides TB10.3 (also named ORF7-1 or Rv3019c), TB10.4 (also named CFP7 or Rv0288) and TB12.9 (also named ORF7-2 or Rv3017c) (WO98/44119, WO99/24577 and Skjøt et al, 2000) or by a nucleotide sequence comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an immunogenic portion of TB10.3, TB10.4 or TB12.9.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE

[0018] The present invention discloses a substantially pure polypeptide, which comprises an amino acid sequence selected from

[0019] (a) the group consisting of Rv0288 (SEQ ID NO: 2 and 195) and its homologues Rv3019c (SEQ ID NO: 199) and Rv3017c (SEQ ID NO: 197);

[0020] (b) an immunogenic portion, e.g. a T-cell epitope, of any one of the sequences in (a); and/or

[0021] (c) an amino acid sequence analogue having at least 70% sequence identity to any one of the sequences in (a) or (b) and at the same time being immunogenic.

[0022] Preferred immunogenic portions are the fragments TB10.3-P1, TB10.3-P2, TB10.3-P3, TB10.3-P4, TB10.3-P5, TB10.3-P6, TB10.3-P7, TB10.3-P8, TB10.3-P9, TB10.4-P1, TB10.4-P2, TB10.4-P3, TB10.4-P4, TB10.4-P5, TB10.4-P6, TB10.4-P7, TB10.4-P8, TB10.4-P9, TB12.9-P1, TB12.9-P2, TB12.9-P3, TB12.9-P4, TB12.9-P5, TB12.9-P6, TB12.9-P7, TB12.9-P8, TB12.9-P9, TB12.9-P10 and TB12.9-P11, which have immunological activity. They are recognized in an in vitro cellular assay determining the release of IFN-γ from lymphocytes withdrawn from an individual currently or previously infected with a virulent mycobacterium.

[0023] Further, the present invention discloses a vaccine, a pharmaceutical composition and a diagnostic reagent, all comprising an amino acid sequence selected from

[0024] (a) the group consisting of Rv0288 (SEQ ID NO: 2 and 195) and its homologues Rv3019c (SEQ ID NO: 199) or Rv3017c (SEQ ID NO: 197);

[0025] (b) an immunogenic portion, e.g. a T-cell epitope, of any one of the sequences in (a); and/or

[0026] (c) an amino acid sequence analogue having at least 70% sequence identity to any one of the sequences in (a) or (b) and at the same time being immunogenic.

[0027] Definitions

[0028] The word “polypeptide” in the present specification and claims should have its usual meaning. That is an amino acid chain of any length, including a full-length protein, oligopeptides, short peptides and fragments thereof, wherein the amino acid residues are linked by covalent peptide bonds.

[0029] The polypeptide may be chemically modified by being glycosylated, by being lipidated (e.g. by chemical lipidation with palmitoyloxy succinimide as described by Mowat et al. 1991 or with dodecanoyl chloride as described by Lustig et al. 1976), by comprising prosthetic groups, or by containing additional amino acids such as e.g. a his-tag or a signal peptide.

[0030] Each polypeptide may thus be characterised by comprising specific amino acid sequences and be encoded by specific nucleic acid sequences. It will be understood that such sequences include analogues and variants produced by recombinant or synthetic methods wherein such polypeptide sequences have been modified by substitution, insertion, addition or deletion of one or more amino acid residues in the recombinant polypeptide and still be immunogenic in any of the biological assays described herein. Substitutions are preferably “conservative”. These are defined according to the following table. Amino acids in the same block in the second column and preferably in the same line in the third column may be substituted for each other. The amino acids in the third column are indicated in one-letter code. ALIPHATIC Non-polar GAP ILV Polar-uncharged CSTM NQ Polar-charged DE KR AROMATIC HFWY

[0031] A preferred polypeptide within the present invention is an immunogenic antigen from M. tuberculosis. Such antigen can for example be derived from M. tuberculosis and/or M. tuberculosis culture filtrate. Thus, a polypeptide comprising an immunogenic portion of one of the above antigens may consist entirely of the immunogenic portion, or may contain additional sequences. The additional sequences may be derived from the native M. tuberculosis antigen or be heterologous and such sequences may, but need not, be immunogenic.

[0032] Each polypeptide is encoded by a specific nucleic acid sequence. It will be understood that such sequences include analogues and variants hereof wherein such nucleic acid sequences have been modified by substitution, insertion, addition or deletion of one or more nucleic acids. Substitutions are preferably silent substitutions in the codon usage which will not lead to any change in the amino acid sequence, but may be introduced to enhance the expression of the protein.

[0033] In the present context the term “substantially pure polypeptide fragment” means a polypeptide preparation which contains at most 5% by weight of other polypeptide material with which it is natively associated (lower percentages of other polypeptide material are preferred, e.g. at most 4%, at most 3%, at most 2%, at most 1%, and at most ½%). It is preferred that the substantially pure polypeptide is at least 96% pure, i.e. that the polypeptide constitutes at least 96% by weight of total polypeptide material present in the preparation, and higher percentages are preferred, such as at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, at least 99.25%, at least 99.5%, and at least 99.75%. It is especially preferred that the polypeptide fragment is in “essentially pure form”, i.e. that the polypeptide fragment is essentially free of any other antigen with which it is natively associated, i.e. free of any other antigen from bacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or a virulent mycobacterium. This can be accomplished by preparing the polypeptide fragment by means of recombinant methods in a non-mycobacterial host cell as will be described in detail below, or by synthesizing the polypeptide fragment by the well-known methods of solid or liquid phase peptide synthesis, e.g. by the method described by Merrifield or variations thereof.

[0034] By the term “virulent mycobacterium” is understood a bacterium capable of causing the tuberculosis disease in an animal or in a human being. Examples of virulent mycobacteria are M. tuberculosis, M. africanum, and M. bovis. Examples of relevant animals are cattle, possums, badgers and kangaroos.

[0035] By “a TB patient” is understood an individual with culture or microscopically proven infection with virulent mycobacteria, and/or an individual clinically diagnosed with TB and who is responsive to anti-TB chemotherapy. Culture, microscopy and clinical diagnosis of TB are well known by any person skilled in the art.

[0036] By the term “PPD-positive individual” is understood an individual with a positive Mantoux test or an individual where PPD induces a positive in vitro recall response determined by release of IFN-γ.

[0037] By the term “delayed type hypersensitivity reaction” (DTH) is understood a T-cell mediated inflammatory response elicited after the injection of a polypeptide into, or application to, the skin, said inflammatory response appearing 72-96 hours after the polypeptide injection or application.

[0038] By the term “IFN-γ” is understood interferon-gamma. The measurement of IFN-γ is used as an indication of an immunological response.

[0039] By the terms “nucleic acid fragment” and “nucleic acid sequence” are understood any nucleic acid molecule including DNA, RNA, LNA (locked nucleic acids), PNA, RNA, dsRNA and RNA-DNA-hybrids. Also included are nucleic acid molecules comprising non-naturally occurring nucleosides. The term includes nucleic acid molecules of any length e.g. from 10 to 10000 nucleotides, depending on the use. When the nucleic acid molecule is for use as a pharmaceutical, e.g. in DNA therapy, or for use in a method for producing a polypeptide according to the invention, a molecule encoding at least one epitope is preferably used, having a length from about 18 to about 1000 nucleotides, the molecule being optionally inserted into a vector. When the nucleic acid molecule is used as a probe, as a primer or in antisense therapy, a molecule having a length of 10-100 is preferably used. According to the invention, other molecule lengths can be used, for instance a molecule having at least 12, 15, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 or 1000 nucleotides (or nucleotide derivatives), or a molecule having at most 10000, 5000, 4000, 3000, 2000, 1000, 700, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100, 50, 40, 30 or 20 nucleotides (or nucleotide derivatives).

[0040] The term “stringent” when used in conjunction with nucleic acid hybridization conditions is as defined in the art, i.e. the hybridization is performed at a temperature not more than 15-20° C. under the melting point Tm, cf. Sambrook et al, 1989, pages 11.45-11.49. Preferably, the conditions are “highly stringent”, i.e. 5-10° C. under the melting point Tm.

[0041] Throughout this specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “comprise”, or variations thereof such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element or integer or group of elements or integers but not the exclusion of any other element or integer or group of elements or integers.

[0042] The term “sequence identity” indicates a quantitative measure of the degree of homology between two amino acid sequences of equal length or between two nucleotide sequences of equal length. If the two sequences to be compared are not of equal length, they must be aligned to best possible fit possible with the insertion of gaps or alternatively, truncation at the ends of the protein sequences. The sequence identity can be calculated as (N_(ref)−N_(dif))¹⁰⁰/N_(ref), wherein N_(dif) is the total number of non-identical residues in the two sequences when aligned and wherein N_(ref) is the number of residues in one of the sequences. Hence, the DNA sequence AGTCAGTC will have a sequence identity of 75% with the sequence AATCAATC (N_(dif)=2 and N_(ref)=8). A gap is counted as non-identity of the specific residue(s), i.e. the DNA sequence AGTGTC will have a sequence identity of 75% with the DNA sequence AGTCAGTC (N_(dif)=2 and N_(ref)=8). Sequence identity can alternatively be calculated by the BLAST program e.g. the BLASTP program (Pearson W. R and D. J. Lipman (1988) PNAS USA 85:2444-2448)(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/Blast). In one aspect of the invention, alignment is performed with the sequence alignment method ClustalW with default parameters as described by Thompson J., et al 1994, available at http://www2.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw/.

[0043] A preferred minimum percentage of sequence identity is at least 70%, such as at least 75%, at least 80%, such as at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 91%, at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, such as at least 99.5%.

[0044] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the polypeptide comprises an immunogenic portion of the polypeptide, such as an epitope for a B-cell or T-cell. The immunogenic portion of a polypeptide is a part of the polypeptide, which elicits an immune response in an animal or a human being, and/or in a biological sample determined by any of the biological assays described herein. The immunogenic portion of a polypeptide may be a T-cell epitope or a B-cell epitope. Immunogenic portions can be related to one or a few relatively small parts of the polypeptide, they can be scattered throughout the polypeptide sequence or be situated in specific parts of the polypeptide. For a few polypeptides epitopes have even been demonstrated to be scattered throughout the polypeptide covering the full sequence (Ravn et al 1999).

[0045] In order to identify relevant T-cell epitopes which are recognised during an immune response, it is possible to use a “brute force” method: Since T-cell epitopes are linear, deletion mutants of the polypeptide will, if constructed systematically, reveal what regions of the polypeptide are essential in immune recognition, e.g. by subjecting these deletion mutants e.g. to the IFN-γ assay described herein. Another method utilises overlapping oligopeptides for the detection of MHC class II epitopes, preferably synthetic, having a length of e.g. 20 amino acid residues derived from the polypeptide. These peptides can be tested in biological assays (e.g. the IFN-γ assay as described herein) and some of these will give a positive response (and thereby be immunogenic) as evidence for the presence of a T cell epitope in the peptide. For the detection of MHC class I epitopes it is possible to predict peptides that will bind (Stryhn et al 1996) and hereafter produce these peptides synthetically and test them in relevant biological assays e.g. the IFN-γ assay as described herein. The peptides preferably having a length of e.g. 8 to 11 amino acid residues derived from the polypeptide. B-cell epitopes can be determined by analysing the B cell recognition to overlapping peptides covering the polypeptide of interest as e.g. described in Harboe et al 1998.

[0046] Although the minimum length of a T-cell epitope has been shown to be at least 6 amino acids, it is normal that such epitopes are constituted of longer stretches of amino acids. Hence, it is preferred that the polypeptide fragment of the invention has a length of at least 7 amino acid residues, such as at least 8, at least 9, at least 10, at least 12, at least 14, at least 16, at least 18, at least 20, at least 22, at least 24, such as at least 30 amino acid residues. Hence, in important embodiments of the inventive method, it is preferred that the polypeptide fragment has a length of at most 50 amino acid residues, such as at most 40, 35, 30, 25, e.g. at most 20 amino acid residues. It is expected that the peptides having a length of between 10 and 20 amino acid residues will prove to be most efficient as MHC class II epitopes and therefore especially preferred lengths of the polypeptide fragment used in the method according to the invention are 18, such as 15, 14, 13, 12 and even 11 amino acid residues. It is expected that the peptides having a length of between 7 and 12 amino acid residues will prove to be most efficient as MHC class I epitopes and therefore especially other lengths of the polypeptide fragment used in the method according to the invention are 11, such as 10, 9, 8 and even 7 amino acid residues.

[0047] Immunogenic portions of polypeptides may be recognised by a broad part (high frequency) or by a minor part (low frequency) of the genetically heterogenic human population. In addition some immunogenic portions induce high immunological responses (dominant), whereas others induce lower, but still significant, responses (subdominant). High frequency><low frequency can be related to the immunogenic portion binding to widely distributed MHC molecules (HLA type) or even by multiple MHC molecules (Kilgus et al. 1991, Sinigaglia et al 1988).

[0048] In the context of providing candidate molecules for a new vaccine against tuberculosis, the subdominant epitopes are however as relevant as are the dominant epitopes since it has been show (Olsen et al 2000) that such epitopes can induce protection regardless of being subdominant.

[0049] A common feature of the polypeptides of the invention is their capability to induce an immunological response as illustrated in the examples. It is understood that a variant of a polypeptide of the invention produced by substitution, insertion, addition or deletion is also immunogenic as determined by at least one of the assays described herein.

[0050] An immune individual is defined as a person or an animal, which has cleared or controlled an infection with virulent mycobacteria or has received a vaccination with M.bovis BCG.

[0051] An immunogenic polypeptide is defined as a polypeptide that induces an immune response in a biological sample or an individual currently or previously infected with a virulent mycobacterium. The immune response may be monitored by one of the following methods:

[0052] An in vitro cellular response is determined by release of a relevant cytokine such as IFN-γ from lymphocytes withdrawn from an animal or human being currently or previously infected with virulent mycobacteria, or by detection of proliferation of these T cells, the induction being performed by the addition of the polypeptide or the immunogenic portion to a suspension comprising from 1×10⁵ cells to 3×10⁵ cells per well. The cells are isolated from either the blood, the spleen, the liver or the lung and the addition of the polypeptide or the immunogenic portion resulting in a concentration of not more than 20 μg per ml suspension and the stimulation being performed from two to five days. For monitoring cell proliferation the cells are pulsed with radioactive labeled Thymidine and after 16-22 hours of incubation detecting the proliferation by liquid scintillation counting, a positive response being a response more than background plus two standard derivations. The release of IFN-γ can be determined by the ELISA method, which is well known to a person skilled in the art, a positive response being a response more than background plus two standard derivations. Other cytokines than IFN-γ could be relevant when monitoring the immunological response to the polypeptide, such as IL-12, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-6, TGF-β. Another and more sensitive method for determining the presence of a cytokine (e.g. IFN-γ) is the ELISPOT method where the cells isolated from either the blood, the spleen, the liver or the lung are diluted to a concentration of preferably 1 to 4×10⁶ cells/ml and incubated for 18-22 hrs in the presence of the polypeptide or the immunogenic portion resulting in a concentration of not more than 20 μg per ml. The cell suspensions are hereafter diluted to 1 to 2×10⁶/ml and transferred to Maxisorp plates coated with anti-IFN-γ and incubated for preferably 4 to 16 hours. The IFN-γ producing cells are determined by the use of labelled secondary anti-IFN-γ antibody and a relevant substrate giving rise to spots, which can be enumerated using a dissection microscope. It is also a possibility to determine the presence of mRNA coding for the relevant cytokine by the use of the PCR technique. Usually one or more cytokines will be measured utilizing for example the PCR, ELISPOT or ELISA. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that a significant increase or decrease in the amount of any of these cytokines induced by a specific polypeptide can be used in evaluation of the immunological activity of the polypeptide.

[0053] An in vitro cellular response may also be determined by the use of T cell lines derived from an immune individual or a person infected with M. tuberculosis where the T cell lines have been driven with either live mycobacteria, extracts from the bacterial cell or culture filtrate for 10 to 20 days with the addition of IL-2. The induction is performed by addition of not more than 20 μg polypeptide per ml suspension to the T cell lines containing from 1×10⁵ cells to 3×10⁵ cells per well and incubation being performed from two to six days. The induction of IFN-γ or release of another relevant cytokine is detected by ELISA. The stimulation of T cells can also be monitored by detecting cell proliferation using radioactively labeled Thymidine as described above. For both assays a positive response is a response more than background plus two standard derivations.

[0054] An in vivo cellular response which may be determined as a positive DTH response after intradermal injection or local application patch of at most 100 μg of the polypeptide or the immunogenic portion to an individual who is clinically or subclinically infected with a virulent Mycobacterium, a positive response having a diameter of at least 5 mm 72-96 hours after the injection or application.

[0055] An in vitro humoral response is determined by a specific antibody response in an immune or infected individual. The presence of antibodies may be determined by an ELISA technique or a Western blot where the polypeptide or the immunogenic portion is absorbed to either a nitrocellulose membrane or a polystyrene surface. The serum is preferably diluted in PBS from 1:10 to 1:100 and added to the absorbed polypeptide and the incubation being performed from 1 to 12 hours. By the use of labeled secondary antibodies the presence of specific antibodies can be determined by measuring the OD e.g. by ELISA where a positive response is a response of more than background plus two standard derivations or alternatively a visual response in a Western blot.

[0056] Another relevant parameter is measurement of the protection in animal models induced after vaccination with the polypeptide in an adjuvant or after DNA vaccination. Suitable animal models include primates, guinea pigs or mice, which are challenged with an infection of a virulent Mycobacterium. Readout for induced protection could be decrease of the bacterial load in target organs compared to non-vaccinated animals, prolonged survival times compared to non-vaccinated animals and diminished weight loss compared to non-vaccinated animals.

[0057] In general, M. tuberculosis antigens, and DNA sequences encoding such antigens, may be prepared using any one of a variety of procedures. They may be purified as native proteins from the M. tuberculosis cell or culture filtrate by procedures such as those described above. Immunogenic antigens may also be produced recombinantly using a DNA sequence encoding the antigen, which has been inserted into an expression vector and expressed in an appropriate host. Examples of host cells are E. coli. The polypeptides or immunogenic portion hereof can also be produced synthetically if having fewer than about 100 amino acids, generally fewer than 50 amino acids, and may be generated using techniques well known to those ordinarily skilled in the art, such as commercially available solid-phase techniques where amino acids are sequentially added to a growing amino acid chain.

[0058] In the construction and preparation of plasmid DNA encoding the polypeptide as defined for DNA vaccination a host strain such as E. coli can be used. Plasmid DNA can then be prepared from overnight cultures of the host strain carrying the plasmid of interest and purified using e.g. the Qiagen Giga-Plasmid column kit (Qiagen, Santa Clarita, Calif., USA) including an endotoxin removal step. It is essential that plasmid DNA used for DNA vaccination is endotoxin free.

[0059] The immunogenic polypeptides may also be produced as fusion proteins, by which methods superior characteristics of the polypeptide of the invention can be achieved. For instance, fusion partners that facilitate export of the polypeptide when produced recombinantly, fusion partners that facilitate purification of the polypeptide, and fusion partners which enhance the immunogenicity of the polypeptide fragment of the invention are all interesting possibilities. Therefore, the invention also pertains to a fusion polypeptide comprising at least one polypeptide or immunogenic portion defined above and at least one fusion partner. The fusion partner can, in order to enhance immunogenicity, be another polypeptide derived from M. tuberculosis, such as of a polypeptide fragment derived from a bacterium belonging to the tuberculosis complex, such as ESAT-6, TB10.4, CFP10, RD1-ORF5, RD1-ORF2, Rv1036, MPB64, MPT64, Ag85A, Ag85B (MPT59), MPB59, , Ag85C, 19kDa lipoprotein, MPT32 and alpha-crystallin, or at least one T-cell epitope of any of the above mentioned antigens ((Skjøt et al, 2000; Danish Patent application PA 2000 00666; Danish Patent application PA 1999 01020; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/0505,739; Rosenkrands et al, 1998; Nagai et al, 1991). The invention also pertains to a fusion polypeptide comprising mutual fusions of two or more of the polypeptides (or immunogenic portions thereof) of the invention.

[0060] Other fusion partners, which could enhance the immunogenicity of the product, are lymphokines such as IFN-γ, IL-2 and IL-12. In order to facilitate expression and/or purification, the fusion partner can e.g. be a bacterial fimbrial protein, e.g. the pilus components pilin and papA; protein A; the ZZ-peptide (ZZ-fusions are marketed by Pharmacia in Sweden); the maltose binding protein; gluthatione S-transferase; β-galactosidase; or poly-histidine. Fusion proteins can be produced recombinantly in a host cell, which could be E. coli, and it is a possibility to induce a linker region between the different fusion partners.

[0061] Other interesting fusion partners are polypeptides, which are lipidated so that the immunogenic polypeptide is presented in a suitable manner to the immune system. This effect is e.g. known from vaccines based on the Borrelia burgdorferi OspA polypeptide as described in e.g. WO 96/40718 A or vaccines based on the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Oprl lipoprotein (Cote-Sierra J, et al, 1998). Another possibility is N-terminal fusion of a known signal sequence and an N-terminal cystein to the immunogenic polypeptide. Such a fusion results in lipidation of the immunogenic polypeptide at the N-terminal cystein, when produced in a suitable production host.

[0062] Another part of the invention pertains to a vaccine composition comprising a polypeptide (or at least one immunogenic portion thereof) or fusion polypeptide according to the invention. In order to ensure optimum performance of such a vaccine composition it is preferred that it comprises an immunologically and pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, vehicle or adjuvant.

[0063] An effective vaccine, wherein a polypeptide of the invention is recognized by the animal, will in an animal model be able to decrease bacterial load in target organs, prolong survival times and/or diminish weight loss after challenge with a virulent Mycobacterium, compared to non-vaccinated animals.

[0064] Suitable carriers are selected from the group consisting of a polymer to which the polypeptide(s) is/are bound by hydrophobic non-covalent interaction, such as a plastic, e.g. polystyrene, or a polymer to which the polypeptide(s) is/are covalently bound, such as a polysaccharide, or a polypeptide, e.g. bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin or keyhole limpet haemocyanin. Suitable vehicles are selected from the group consisting of a diluent and a suspending agent. The adjuvant is preferably selected from the group consisting of dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDA), Quil A, poly I:C, aluminium hydroxide, Freund's incomplete adjuvant, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), Treholose Dimycolate (TDM), Trehalose Dibehenate and muramyl dipeptide (MDP).

[0065] Preparation of vaccines which contain peptide sequences as active ingredients is generally well understood in the art, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,608,251; 4,601,903; 4,599,231 and 4,599,230, all incorporated herein by reference.

[0066] Other methods of achieving adjuvant effect for the vaccine include use of agents such as aluminum hydroxide or phosphate (alum), synthetic polymers of sugars (Carbopol), aggregation of the protein in the vaccine by heat treatment, aggregation by reactivating with pepsin treated (Fab) antibodies to albumin, mixture with bacterial cells such as C. parvum or endotoxins or lipopolysaccharide components of gram-negative bacteria, emulsion in physiologically acceptable oil vehicles such as mannide mono-oleate (Aracel A) or emulsion with 20 percent solution of a perfluorocarbon (Fluosol-DA) used as a block substitute may also be employed. Other possibilities involve the use of immune modulating substances such as cytokines or synthetic IFN-γ inducers such as poly I:C in combination with the above-mentioned adjuvants.

[0067] Another interesting possibility for achieving adjuvant effect is to employ the technique described in Gosselin et al., 1992 (which is hereby incorporated by reference herein). In brief, a relevant antigen such as an antigen of the present invention can be conjugated to an antibody (or antigen binding antibody fragment) against the Fcγ receptors on monocytes/macrophages.

[0068] The vaccines are administered in a manner compatible with the dosage formulation, and in such amount as will be therapeutically effective and immunogenic. The quantity to be administered depends on the subject to be treated, including, e.g., the capacity of the individual's immune system to mount an immune response, and the degree of protection desired. Suitable dosage ranges are of the order of several hundred micrograms active ingredient per vaccination with a preferred range from about 0.1 μg to 1000 μg, such as in the range from about 1 μg to 300 μg, and especially in the range from about 10 μg to 50 μg. Suitable regimens for initial administration and booster shots are also variable but are typified by an initial administration followed by subsequent inoculations or other administrations.

[0069] The manner of application may be varied widely. Any of the conventional methods for administration of a vaccine are applicable. These are believed to include oral application on a solid physiologically acceptable base or in a physiologically acceptable dispersion, parenterally, by injection or the like. The dosage of the vaccine will depend on the route of administration and will vary according to the age of the person to be vaccinated and, to a lesser degree, the size of the person to be vaccinated.

[0070] The vaccines are conventionally administered parenterally, by injection, for example, either subcutaneously or intramuscularly. Additional formulations which are suitable for other modes of administration include suppositories and, in some cases, oral formulations. For suppositories, traditional binders and carriers may include, for example, polyalkalene glycols or triglycerides; such suppositories may be formed from mixtures containing the active ingredient in the range of 0.5% to 10%, preferably 1-2%. Oral formulations include such normally employed excipients as, for example, pharmaceutical grades of mannitol, lactose, starch, magnesium stearate, sodium saccharine, cellulose, magnesium carbonate, and the like. These compositions take the form of solutions, suspensions, tablets, pills, capsules, sustained release formulations or powders and advantageously contain 10-95% of active ingredient, preferably 25-70%.

[0071] In many instances, it will be necessary to have multiple administrations of the vaccine. Especially, vaccines can be administered to prevent an infection with virulent mycobacteria and/or to treat established mycobacterial infection. When administered to prevent an infection, the vaccine is given prophylactically, before definitive clinical signs or symptoms of an infection are present.

[0072] Due to genetic variation, different individuals may react with immune responses of varying strength to the same polypeptide. Therefore, the vaccine according to the invention may comprise several different polypeptides in order to increase the immune response. The vaccine may comprise two or more polypeptides or immunogenic portions, where all of the polypeptides are as defined above, or some but not all of the peptides may be derived from virulent mycobacteria. In the latter example, the polypeptides not necessarily fulfilling the criteria set forth above for polypeptides may either act due to their own immunogenicity or merely act as adjuvants.

[0073] The vaccine may comprise 1-20, such as 2-20 or even 3-20 different polypeptides or fusion polypeptides, such as 3-10 different polypeptides or fusion polypeptides.

[0074] The invention also pertains to a method for immunising an animal, including a human being, against TB caused by virulent mycobacteria, comprising administering to the animal the polypeptide of the invention, or a vaccine composition of the invention as described above, or a living vaccine described above.

[0075] The invention also pertains to a method for producing an immunologic composition according to the invention, the method comprising preparing, synthesising or isolating a polypeptide according to the invention, and solubilizing or dispersing the polypeptide in a medium for a vaccine, and optionally adding other M. tuberculosis antigens and/or a carrier, vehicle and/or adjuvant substance.

[0076] The nucleic acid fragments of the invention may be used for effecting in vivo expression of antigens, ie. the nucleic acid fragments may be used in so-called DNA vaccines as reviewed in Ulmer et al., 1993, which is included by reference.

[0077] Hence, the invention also relates to a vaccine comprising a nucleic acid fragment according to the invention, the vaccine effecting in vivo expression of antigen by an animal, including a human being, to whom the vaccine has been administered, the amount of expressed antigen being effective to confer substantially increased resistance to infections caused by virulent mycobacteria in an animal, including a human being.

[0078] The efficacy of such a DNA vaccine can possibly be enhanced by administering the gene encoding the expression product together with a DNA fragment encoding a polypeptide which has the capability of modulating an immune response.

[0079] One possibility for effectively activating a cellular immune response for a vaccine can be achieved by expressing the relevant antigen in a vaccine in a non-pathogenic microorganism or virus. Well-known examples of such microorganisms are Mycobacterium bovis BCG, Salmonella and Pseudomona and examples of viruses are Vaccinia Virus and Adenovirus.

[0080] Therefore, another important aspect of the present invention is an improvement of the living BCG vaccine presently available, wherein one or more copies of a DNA sequence encoding one or more polypeptide as defined above has been incorporated into the genome of the micro-organism in a manner allowing the micro-organism to express and secrete the polypeptide. The incorporation of more than one copy of a nucleotide sequence of the invention is contemplated to enhance the immune response

[0081] Another possibility is to integrate the DNA encoding the polypeptide according to the invention in an attenuated virus such as the vaccinia virus or Adenovirus (Rolph et al 1997). The recombinant vaccinia virus is able to replicate within the cytoplasma of the infected host cell and the polypeptide of interest can therefore induce an immune response, which is envisioned to induce protection against TB.

[0082] The invention also relates to the use of a polypeptide or nucleic acid of the invention for use as a therapeutic vaccine, which concept has been described in the literature exemplified by D. Lowry (1999, Nature 400: 269-71). Antigens with therapeutic properties may be identified based on their ability to diminish the severity of M. tuberculosis infection in experimental animals or prevent reactivation of previous infection, when administered as a vaccine. The composition used for therapeutic vaccines can be prepared as described above for vaccines.

[0083] The invention also relates to a method of diagnosing TB caused by a virulent mycobacterium in an animal, including a human being, comprising intradermally injecting, in the animal, a polypeptide according to the invention, a positive skin response at the location of injection being indicative of the animal having TB, and a negative skin response at the location of injection being indicative of the animal not having TB.

[0084] When diagnosis of previous or ongoing infection with virulent mycobacteria is the aim, a blood sample comprising mononuclear cells (i.e. T-lymphocytes) from a patient could be contacted with a sample of one or more polypeptides of the invention. This contacting can be performed in vitro and a positive reaction could e.g. be proliferation of the T-cells or release of cytokines such as IFN-γ into the extracellular phase. It is also conceivable to contact a serum sample from a subject with a polypeptide of the invention, the demonstration of a binding between antibodies in the serum sample and the polypeptide being indicative of previous or ongoing infection.

[0085] The invention therefore also relates to an in vitro method for diagnosing ongoing or previous sensitisation in an animal or a human being with a virulent mycobacterium, the method comprising providing a blood sample from the animal or human being, and contacting the sample from the animal with the polypeptide of the invention, a significant release into the extracellular phase of at least one cytokine by mononuclear cells in the blood sample being indicative of the animal being sensitised. A positive response is a response more than release from a blood sample derived from a patient without the TB diagnosis plus two standard derivations. The invention also relates to an in vitro method for diagnosing ongoing or previous sensitisation in an animal or a human being with a virulent mycobacterium, the method comprising providing a blood sample from the animal or human being, and contacting the sample from the animal with the polypeptide of the invention demonstrating the presence of antibodies recognizing the polypeptide of the invention in the serum sample.

[0086] The immunogenic composition used for diagnosing may comprise 1-20, such as 2-20 or even 3-20 different polypeptides or fusion polypeptides, such as 3-10 different polypeptides or fusion polypeptides.

[0087] The nucleic acid probes encoding the polypeptide of the invention can be used in a variety of diagnostic assays for detecting the presence of pathogenic organisms in a given sample. A method of determining the presence of mycobacterial nucleic acids in an animal, including a human being, or in a sample, comprising administering a nucleic acid fragment of the invention to the animal or incubating the sample with the nucleic acid fragment of the invention or a nucleic acid fragment complementary thereto, and detecting the presence of hybridised nucleic acids resulting from the incubation (by using the hybridisation assays which are well-known in the art), is also included in the invention. Such a method of diagnosing TB might involve the use of a composition comprising at least a part of a nucleotide sequence as defined above and detecting the presence of nucleotide sequences in a sample from the animal or human being to be tested which hybridise with the nucleic acid fragment (or a complementary fragment) by the use of PCR technique.

[0088] A monoclonal or polyclonal antibody, which is specifically reacting with a polypeptide of the invention in an immuno assay, or a specific binding fragment of said antibody, is also a part of the invention. The antibodies can be produced by methods known to the person skilled in the art. Polyclonal antibodies can be raised in a mammal, for example, by one or more injections of a polypeptide according to the present invention and, if desired, an adjuvant. The monoclonal antibodies according to the present invention may, for example, be produced by the hybridoma method first described by Köhler and Milstein (1975), or may be produced by recombinant DNA methods such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,567. The monoclonal antibodies may also be isolated from phage libraries generated using the techniques described in McCafferty et al (1990), for example. Methods for producing antibodies are described in the literature, e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,958.

[0089] A sample of a potentially infected organ may be contacted with such an antibody recognizing a polypeptide of the invention. The demonstration of the reaction by means of methods well known in the art between the sample and the antibody will be indicative of an ongoing infection. It is of course also a possibility to demonstrate the presence of anti-mycobacterial antibodies in serum by contacting a serum sample from a subject with at least one of the polypeptide fragments of the invention and using well-known methods for visualising the reaction between the antibody and antigen.

[0090] In diagnostics, an antibody, a nucleic acid fragment and/or a polypeptide of the invention can be used either alone, or as a constituent in a composition. Such compositions are known in the art, and comprise compositions in which the antibody, the nucleic acid fragment or the polypeptide of the invention is coupled, preferably covalently, to at least one other molecule, e.g. a label (e.g. radioactive or fluorescent) or a carrier molecule. Synonyms CFP7, TB10.4, DNA SEQ ID NO Protein SEQ ID NO PV-2 binding 1 2 Rv0288 protein and 194 and 195 Rv3017c ORF7-2, TB12.9 196 197 Rv3019c ORF7-1, TB10.3 198 199 TB10.3-P1 200 201 TB10.3-P2 202 203 TB10.3-P3 204 205 TB10.3-P4 206 207 TB10.3-P5 208 209 TB10.3-P6 210 211 TB10.3-P7 212 213 TB10.3-P8 214 215 TB10.3-P9 216 217 TB10.4-P1 218 219 TB10.4-P2 220 221 TB10.4-P3 222 223 TB10.4-P4 224 225 TB10.4-P5 226 227 TB10.4-P6 228 229 TB10.4-P7 230 231 TB10.4-P8 232 233 TB10.4-P9 234 235 TB12.9-P1 236 237 TB12.9-P2 238 239 TB12.9-P3 240 241 TB12.9-P4 242 243 TB12.9-P5 244 245 TB12.9-P6 246 247 TB12.9-P7 248 249 TB12.9-P8 250 251 TB12.9-P9 252 253 TB12.9-P10 254 255 TB12.9-P11 256 257

LEGENDS TO FIGURES

[0091]FIG. 1: Course of infection with M. tuberculosis in naive and memory immune mice. C57BI/6j mice were infected with 2.5×10⁵ viable units of M. tuberculosis and the growth of the organisms in the spleen was investigated for a period of 25 days. The count of the CFU indicated represent the means of 4-5 mice.

[0092]FIG. 2: In vivo IFN-γ production during tuberculosis infection. Memory immune or naive mice were infected with 2.5×10⁵ colony forming units of M. tuberculosis i.v. and the level of IFN-γ was monitored in the spleen or serum of animals during the course of infection.

[0093]FIG. 3: In vitro response of spleen lymphocytes from infected mice. Memory immune or naive mice were sacrificed at different time points during the course of infection, and spleen lymphocytes were stimulated in vitro with ST-CF or killed bacilli. Cell culture supernatants were tested for the presence of IFN-γ.

[0094]FIG. 4: Short-term culture-filtrate fractions. ST-CF was divided into 14 fractions by the multi-elution technique and the fractions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Silver-staining. Lane F: ST-CF Lane 1-15: fractions 1-15.

[0095]FIG. 5: T-cell reactivation during a secondary infection. IFN-γ release by spleen lymphocytes isolated either directly from memory immune mice or four days after the mice had received a secondary infection. The lymphocytes were stimulated in vitro with ST-CF fractions and the supernatants harvested for quantification of IFN-γ. The migration of molecular mass markers (as shown in FIG. 4) are indicated at the bottom.

[0096]FIG. 6: Precise mapping of IFN-γ release in response to single secreted antigens. A panel of narrow fractions within the stimulatory regions 4-14 and 26-34 enabled the precise mapping of proteins capable of inducing IFN-γ in microcultures containing lymphocytes from memory immune mice at day 4 of rechallenge. On the left hand side: IFN-γ release by single secreted antigens. On the right hand side: The localization of and IFN-γ induction by defined secreted antigens of M. tuberculosis. ST-3, 76-8 and PV-2 are the designation of three mAbs which defines secreted antigens of molecular mass 5-8 kDa.

[0097]FIG. 7: Physical map of recombinant lambda phages expressing products reactive with Mabs recognizing low MW components. Cross-hatched bar; lacZ, solid bar; M. tuberculosis DNA, open bar; lambdagt11 DNA (right arm), open triangles indicate EcoRI cleavage sites originating from the lambdagt11 vector. The direction of translation and transcription of the gene products fused to beta-galactosidase is indicated by an arrow.

[0098]FIG. 8: Western blot analyses demonstrating recombinant expression of low molecular weight components. Lysates of E. coli Y1089 lysogenized with lambda AA226, lambda AA227 or lambda were analyzed in Western blot experiments after PAGE (A: 10%, B: 10 to 20% gradient). Panel A: lanes 1: lambda gt11, lanes 2: lambda AA226, lanes 3: lambda AA227. Panel B: lane 1: lambda gt11, lanes 2 and 3: lambda AA242 and AA230 (identical clones). The monoclonal antibodies are indicated on top of each panel. L24,c24 is an anti-MPT64 reactive monoclonal antibody.

[0099]FIG. 9: Nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1) of cfp7. The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) of CFP7 is given in conventional one-letter code below the nucleotide sequence. The putative ribosome-binding site is written in underlined italics as are the putative −10 and −35 regions. Nucleotides written in bold are those encoding CFP7.

[0100]FIG. 10. Nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO: 3) of cfp9. The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 4) of CFP9 is given in conventional one-letter code below the nucleotide sequence. The putative ribosome-binding site Shine Delgarno sequence is written in underlined italics as are the putative −10 and −35 regions. Nucleotides in bold writing are those encoding CFP9. The nucleotide sequence obtained from the lambda 226 phage is double underlined.

[0101]FIG. 11: Nucleotide sequence of mpt51. The deduced amino acid sequence of MPT51 is given in a one-letter code below the nucleotide sequence. The signal is indicated in italics. The putative potential ribosome-binding site is underlined. The nucleotide difference and amino acid difference compared to the nucleotide sequence of MPB51 (Ohara et al., 1995) are underlined at position 780. The nucleotides given in italics are not present in M. tuberculosis H37Rv.

[0102]FIG. 12: the position of the purified antigens in the 2DE system have been determined and mapped in a reference gel. The newly purified antigens are encircled and the position of well-known known proteins are also indicated.

[0103]FIG. 13 Indication of the TB10.4 immunogenic portions in alignment to the full sequence of TB10.4.

[0104]FIG. 14 Indication of the TB10.3 immunogenic portions in alignment to the full sequence of TB10.3. Underlined amino acids are different from the TB10.4 peptide.

[0105]FIG. 15 Indication of the TB12.9 immunogenic portions in alignment to the full sequence of TB12.9. Underlined amino acids are different from the TB10.4 peptide.

PREABLE TO EXAMPLES

[0106] It is an established fact that long-term immunological memory resides after termination of a tuberculous infection (Orme, I. M. 1988., Lefford, M. J. et al. 1974.). This memory immunity efficiently protects the host against a secondary infection with M. tuberculosis later in life. When an immune host mounts a protective immune response, the specific T-cells responsible for the early recognition of the infected macrophage, stimulates a powerful bactericidal activity through their production of IFN-γ (Rook, G. A. W. 1990., Flesch, I. et al. 1987.). Protective antigens, which are to be incorporated in a future sub-unit vaccine, have in the examples below been sought among the molecular targets of the effector cells responsible for the recall of a protective immune response. This has resulted in the identification of immunodominant antigenic targets for T-cells during the first phase of a protective immune response.

Example 1

[0107] Isolation of T-cell Stimulating Low Molecular Weight ST-CF Antigens

[0108] Bacteria. M. tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294) was grown at 37° C. on Löwenstein-Jensen medium or in suspension in modified Sauton medium. BCG Copenhagen was obtained as a freeze dried vaccine and were rehydrated with diluted sauton followed by a brief sonication to ensure a disperse suspension.

[0109] Production of short-term culture filtrate (ST-CF). ST-CF was produced as described previously (Andersen et al., 1991b). Briefly M. tuberculosis (4×10⁶ CFU/ml) were incubated in Sauton medium and grown on an orbital shaker for 7 days. The bacteria were removed by filtration and the culture supernatants were passed through sterile filters (0.2 μm) and concentrated on an Amicon YM 3 membrane (Amicon, Danvers, Mass.).

[0110] Fractionation of ST-CF by the multi-elution technique. ST-CF (5 mg) was separated in 10-20% SDS-PAGE overnight (11 cm vide centerwell, 0.75 mm gel). After the termination of the electrophoretic run the gel was trimmed for excess gel, and preequilibrated in 3 changes of 2 mM phosphate buffer for 40 min. The multi-elution was performed as described previously (Andersen and Heron, 1993b). Briefly, gels were transferred to the Multi-Eluter™ (KEM-EN-TECH) and electroeluted (40 V) into 2 mM phosphate buffer for 20 min. The polypeptide fractions were aspirated and adjusted to isotonia with concentrated PBS. All fractions were stabilized with 0.5% mice serum and were kept frozen at −80° C. until use.

[0111] Lymphocyte cultures. Lymphocytes were obtained by preparing single-cell suspensions from spleens as described in Andersen et al., 1991a. Briefly, ST-CF or antigenic fractions were added to microcultures containing 2×10⁵ lymphocyte in a volume of 200 μl Rpmi 1640 supplemented with 5×10⁵ M 2-mercaptoethanol, penicillin, streptomycin, 1 mM glutamine and 0.5% (vol/vol) fresh mouse serum.

[0112] ST-CF was used in the concentration 4 μg/ml while ST-CF fractions were used in 1 μg/ml.

[0113] Cellular proliferation was investigated by pulsing the cultures (1 μCi [³H] thymidine/well) after 48 h of incubation, further incubating the plates for 22 hours and finally harvesting and processing the plates for liquid scintillation counting (Lkb, Beta counter). Culture supernatants were harvested from parallel cultures after 48 hours incubation and used for lymphokine analyses.

[0114] Lymphokine analyses. The amount of INF-γ present in culture supernatants and in homogenised organs was quantified by an IFN-γ ELISA kit (Holland Biotechnology, Leiden, the Netherlands). Values below 10 pg were considered negative.

[0115] A group of efficiently protected mice was generated by infecting 8-12 weeks old female C57BI/6j mice bred at Statens Seruminstitut, Copenhagen, Denmark, with 2.5×10³ M. tuberculosis i.v. After 30 days of infection the mice were subjected to 60 days of antibiotic treatment with isoniazid and were then left for 200-240 days to ensure the establishment of resting long-term memory immunity. The mice were then reinfected with 2.5×10⁵ M. tuberculosis i.v. and the course of infection was compared with that of a corresponding naive group of mice (FIG. 1).

[0116] As seen in FIG. 1, M. tuberculosis grow rapidly in the spleens of naive mice whereas the infection is controlled within the first few days in memory immune mice. This finding emphasizes that early immunological events occurring during the first days determines the outcome of infection.

[0117] Gamma interferon (IFN-γ) is a lymphokine which is involved directly in protective immunity against M. tuberculosis (Rook G. A. W., 1990, Flesch I. and Kaufmann S., 1987). To monitor the onset of a protective immune response, the content of IFN-γ in spleen homogenates (4% w/v in PBS) and in serum samples was investigated during the course of infection (FIG. 2). Memory immune mice were found to respond immediately (<24 h) by a marked production of IFN-γ detectable both in spleen and in serum. Naive mice, in contrast, had a 14 days delay before any significant production was evident, a period during which infection rapidly progressed. Immune mice were characterized by an accelerated release of IFN-γ and to determine the molecular targets of this immunological response, spleen lymphocytes were obtained from animals at different time points during the course of infection. The lymphocytes were stimulated in vitro with either bacteria, killed with glutaraldehyde and washed with PBS or short-term culture-filtrate (ST-CF) which is a complex mixture of proteins secreted by M. tuberculosis during growth (Andersen, P. et al. 1991.) (FIG. 3). The memory immune mice were found to be characterized by an accelerated generation of IFN-γ producing T-cells responding to ST-CF whereas killed bacteria in contrast were found to elicit only a marginal response at a very late stage of infection.

[0118] To map the molecular targets of protective T-cells among the multiple secreted proteins present in ST-CF a screening of ST-CF was performed using the multi-elution technique (Andersen and Heron, 1993). This technique divides complex protein mixtures separated in SDS-PAGE into narrow fractions in a physiological buffer (FIG. 4). These fractions were used to stimulate spleen lymphocytes in vitro and the release of IFN-γ was monitored (FIG. 5). The response of long-term memory immune mice (the mice were left for 200-240 days to ensure immunological rest) was compared to the response generated after 4 days of rechallenge infection. This comparison enable the mapping of targets for memory effector T-cells triggered to release IFN-γ during the first phase of a protective immune response. Using this approach it was demonstrated that the targets for these protective T-cells were secreted proteins or fragments of proteins of apparent molecular mass 6-10 and 26-34 kDa (FIG. 5).

[0119] To precisely map single molecules within the stimulatory regions the induction of IFN-γ by a panel of narrow overlapping fractions was investigated. This enabled the identification of a 6-8 kDa protein fraction with exceedingly stimulatory capacity (5100-5400 pg IFN-γ units/ml) (FIG. 6). The 6-kDa protein band yielding the highest release of IFN-γ (5390 pg/ml) was recognized by the mAb HYB76-8, whereas the adjacent protein bands were recognized by the mAbs ST-3 and PV-2.

Example 2

[0120] Cloning of Genes Expressing Low Mass Culture Filtrate Antigens

[0121] In example 1 it was demonstrated that antigens in the low molecular mass fraction are recognized strongly by cells isolated from memory immune mice. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to these antigens were therefore generated by immunizing with the low mass fraction in RIBI adjuvant (first and second immunization) followed by two injections with the fractions in aluminium hydroxide. Fusion and cloning of the reactive cell lines were done according to standard procedures (Kohler and Milstein 1975). The procedure resulted in the provision of two mAbs: ST-3 directed to a 9 kDa culture filtrate antigen (CFP9) and PV-2 directed to a 7 kDa antigen (CFP7), when the molecular weight is estimated from migration of the antigens in an SDS-PAGE.

[0122] In order to identify the antigens binding to the Mab's, the following experiments were carried out:

[0123] The recombinant λgt11 M. tuberculosis DNA library constructed by R. Young (Young, R. A. et al. 1985) and obtained through the World Health Organization IMMTUB programme (WHO.0032.wibr) was screened for phages expressing gene products which would bind the monoclonal antibodies ST-3 and PV-2.

[0124] Approximately 1×10⁵ pfu of the gene library (containing approximately 25% recombinant phages) were plated on Eschericia coli Y1090 (DlacU169, proA⁺, Dlon, araD139, supF, trpC22::tn10[pMC9] ATCC#37197) in soft agar and incubated for 2.5 hours at 42° C.

[0125] The plates were overlaid with sheets of nitrocellulose saturated with isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside and incubation was continued for 2.5 hours at 37° C. The nitrocellulose was removed and incubated with samples of the monoclonal antibodies in PBS with Tween 20 added to a final concentration of 0.05%. Bound monoclonal antibodies were visualized by horseradish peroxidase-conjugated rabbit anti-mouse immunoglobulins (P260, Dako, Glostrup, DK) and a staining reaction involving 5,5′,3,3′-tetramethylbenzidine and H₂O₂.

[0126] Positive plaques were recloned and the phages originating from a single plaque were used to lysogenize E. coli Y1089 (DlacU169, proA⁺, Dlon, araD139, strA, hfl150 [chr::tn10] [pMC9] ATCC nr. 37196). The resultant lysogenic strains were used to propagate phage particles for DNA extraction. These lysogenic E. coli strains have been named:

[0127] AA242 (expressing PV-2 reactive polypeptide CFP7) which has been deposited Jun. 28, 1993 with the collection of Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSM) under the accession number DSM 8379 and in accordance with the provisions of the Budapest Treaty.

[0128] A physical map of the recombinant phages is shown in FIG. 7 and the expression of the recombinant gene products is shown in FIG. 8.

[0129] The PV-2 binding protein appears to be expressed in an unfused version.

[0130] Sequencing of the Nucleotide Sequence Encoding the PV-2 Binding Protein

[0131] In order to obtain the nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding the pv-2 binding protein, the approximately 3 kb M. tuberculosis derived EcoRI-EcoRI fragment from AA242 was subcloned in the EcoRI site in the pBluescriptSK+(Stratagene) and used to transform E. coli XL-1Blue (Stratagene).

[0132] The complete DNA sequence of the gene was obtained by the dideoxy chain termination method adapted for supercoiled DNA by use of the Sequenase DNA sequencing kit version 1.0 (United States Biochemical Corp., Cleveland, Ohio) and by cycle sequencing using the Dye Terminator system in combination with an automated gel reader (model 373A; Applied Biosystems) according to the instructions provided. The DNA sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 (CFP7) as well as in FIG. 9. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0133] CFP7

[0134] An open reading frame (ORF) encoding a sequence of 96 amino acid residues was identified from an ATG start codon at position 91-93 extending to a TAG stop codon at position 379-381. The deduced amino acid sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 (and in FIG. 9 where conventional one-letter amino acid codes are used).

[0135] CFP7 appear to be expressed in E. coli as an unfused version. The nucleotide sequence at position 78-84 is expected to be the Shine Delgarno sequence and the sequences from position 47-50 and 14-19 are expected to be the −10 and −35 regions, respectively:

[0136] Subcloning CFP7 in Expression Vectors

[0137] The ORF encoding CFP7 was PCR cloned into the pMST24 (Theisen et al., 1995) expression vector pRVN01.

[0138] The PCR amplification was carried out in a thermal reactor (Rapid cycler, Idaho Technology, Idaho) by mixing 10 ng plasmid DNA with the mastermix (0.5 μM of each oligonucleotide primer, 0.25 μM BSA (Stratagene), low salt buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.8, 10 mM KCl, 10 mM (NH₄)₂SO₄, 2 mM MgSO₄ and 0.1% Triton X-100) (Stratagene), 0.25 mM of each deoxynucleoside triphosphate and 0.5 U Taq Plus Long DNA polymerase (Stratagene)). Final volume was 10 μl (all concentrations given are concentrations in the final volume). Predenaturation was carried out at 94° C. for 30 s. 30 cycles of the following was performed; Denaturation at 94° C. for 30 s, annealing at 55° C. for 30 s and elongation at 72° C. for 1 min.

[0139] The oligonucleotide primers were synthesised automatically on a DNA synthesizer (Applied Biosystems, Forster City, Calif., ABI-391, PCR-mode), deblocked, and purified by ethanol precipitation.

[0140] The cfp7oligonucleotides (TABLE 1) were synthesised on the basis of the nucleotide sequence from the CFP7 sequence (FIG. 9). The oligonucleotides were engineered to include an SmaI restriction enzyme site at the 5′ end and a BamHI restriction enzyme site at the 3′ end for directed subcloning.

[0141] CFP7

[0142] By the use of PCR a SmaI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of the ORF of 291 bp, encoding the cfp7 gene, so that only the coding region would be expressed, and a BamHI site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The 291 bp PCR fragment was cleaved by SmaI and BamHI, purified from an agarose gel and subcloned into the SmaI-BamHI sites of the pMST24 expression vector. Vector DNA containing the gene fusion was used to transform the E. coli XL1-Blue (pRVN01).

[0143] Purification of Recombinant CFP7

[0144] The ORF was fused N-terminally to the (His)₆-tag (cf. EP-A-0 282 242). Recombinant antigen was prepared as follows: Briefly, a single colony of E. coli harbouring either the pRVN01 or the pRVN02 plasmid, was inoculated into Luria-Bertani broth containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin and 12.5 μg/ml tetracycline and grown at 37° C. to OD_(600 nm)=0.5. IPTG (isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside) was then added to a final concentration of 2 mM (expression was regulated either by the strong IPTG inducible P_(tac) or the T5 promoter) and growth was continued for further 2 hours. The cells were harvested by centrifugation at 4,200×g at 4° C. for 8 min. The pelleted bacteria were stored overnight at −20° C. The pellet was resuspended in BC 40/100 buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.9, 20% glycerol, 100 mM KCl, 40 mM Imidazole) and cells were broken by sonication (5 times for 30 s with intervals of 30 s) at 4° C. followed by centrifugation at 12,000×g for 30 min at 4° C., the supernatant (crude extract) was used for purification of the recombinant antigens.

[0145] The Histidine fusion protein (His-rCFP7) was purified from the crude extract by affinity chromatography on a Ni²⁺-NTA column from QIAGEN with a volume of 100 ml. His-rCFP7 binds to Ni²⁺. After extensive washes of the column in BC 40/100 buffer, the fusion protein was eluted with a BC 1000/100 buffer containing 100 mM imidazole, 20 mM Tris pH 7.9, 20% glycerol and 1 M KCl. subsequently, the purified products were dialysed extensively against 10 mM Tris pH 8.0. His-rCFP7 was then separated from contaminants by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) over an anion-exchange column (Mono Q, Pharmacia, Sweden) in 10 mM Tris pH 8.0 with a linear gradient of NaCl from 0 to 1 M. Aliquots of the fractions were analyzed by 10%-20% gradient sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Fractions containing purified His-rCFP7 was pooled. TABLE 1 Sequence of the cfp7 oligonucleotides^(a). Orientation and oligonucleotide Sequences (5′ → 3′) Position^(b) (nucleotide) Sense GCAACACCCGGGATGTCGCAAATCATG (SEQ ID NO: 43)  91-105 (SEQ ID NO: 1) pvR3 Antisense CTACTAAGCTTGGATCCCTAGCCG- (SEQ ID NO: 45) 381-362 (SEQ ID NO: 1) pvF4 CCCCATTTGGCGG

Example 3

[0146] Identification of Antigens which are not Expressed in BCG Strains.

[0147] In an effort to control the treat of TB, attenuated bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been used as a live attenuated vaccine. BCG is an attenuated derivative of a virulent Mycobacterium bovis. The original BCG from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France was developed from 1908 to 1921 by 231 passages in liquid culture and has never been shown to revert to virulence in animals, indicating that the attenuating mutation(s) in BCG are stable deletions and/or multiple mutations which do not readily revert. While physiological differences between BCG and M. tuberculosis and M. bovis has been noted, the attenuating mutations which arose during serial passage of the original BCG strain has been unknown until recently. The first mutations described are the loss of the gene encoding MPB64 in some BCG strains (Li et al., 1993, Oettinger and Andersen, 1994) and the gene encoding ESAT-6 in all BCG strain tested (Harboe et al., 1996), later 3 large deletions in BCG have been identified (Mahairas et al., 1996). The region named RD1 includes the gene encoding ESAT-6 and an other (RD2) the gene encoding MPT64. Both antigens have been shown to have diagnostic potential and ESAT-6 has been shown to have properties as a vaccine candidate (cf. PCT/DK94/00273 and PCT/DK94/00270). In order to find new M. tuberculosis specific diagnostic antigens as well as antigens for a new vaccine against TB, the RD1 region (17.499 bp) of M. tuberculosis H37Rv has been analyzed for Open Reading Frames (ORF). ORFs with a minimum length of 96 bp have been predicted using the algorithm described by Borodovsky and McIninch (1993), in total 27 ORFs have been predicted, 20 of these have possible diagnostic and/or vaccine potential, as they are deleted from all known BCG strains. The predicted ORFs include ESAT-6 (RD1-ORF7) and CFP10 (RD1-ORF6) described previously (Sørensen et al., 1995), as a positive control for the ability of the algorithm. In the present is described the potential of 7 of the predicted antigens for diagnosis of TB as well as potential as candidates for a new vaccine against TB.

[0148] Seven open reading frames (ORF) from the 17,499 kb RD1 region (Accession no. U34848) with possible diagnostic and vaccine potential have been identified and cloned.

[0149] Identification of the ORF's rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a, and rd1-orf9b.

[0150] The nucleotide sequence of rd1-orf2 from M. tuberculosis H37Rv is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 71. The deduced amino acid sequence of RD1-ORF2 is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 72.

[0151] The nucleotide sequence of rd1-orf3 from M. tuberculosis H37Rv is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 87. The deduced amino acid sequence of RD1-ORF2 is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 88.

[0152] The nucleotide sequence of rd1-orf4 from M. tuberculosis H37Rv is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 89. The deduced amino acid sequence of RD1-ORF2 is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 90.

[0153] The nucleotide sequence of rd1-orf5 from M. tuberculosis H37Rv is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 91. The deduced amino acid sequence of RD1-ORF2 is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 92.

[0154] The nucleotide sequence of rd1-orf8 from M. tuberculosis H37Rv is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 67. The deduced amino acid sequence of RD1-ORF2 is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 68.

[0155] The nucleotide sequence of rd1-orf9a from M. tuberculosis H37Rv is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 93. The deduced amino acid sequence of RD1-ORF2 is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 94.

[0156] The nucleotide sequence of rd1-orf9b from M. tuberculosis H37Rv is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 69. The deduced amino acid sequence of RD1-ORF2 is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 70.

[0157] The DNA sequence rd1-orf2 (SEQ ID NO: 71) contained an open reading frame starting with an ATG codon at position 889-891 and ending with a termination codon (TAA) at position 2662-2664 (position numbers referring to the location in RD1). The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 72) contains 591 residues corresponding to a molecular weight of 64,525.

[0158] The DNA sequence rd1-orf3 (SEQ ID NO: 87) contained an open reading frame starting with an ATG codon at position 2807-2809 and ending with a termination codon (TAA) at position 3101-3103 (position numbers referring to the location in RD1). The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 88) contains 98 residues corresponding to a molecular weight of 9,799.

[0159] The DNA sequence rd1-orf4 (SEQ ID NO: 89) contained an open reading frame starting with a GTG codon at position 4014-4012 and ending with a termination codon (TAG) at position 3597-3595 (position numbers referring to the location in RD1). The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 90) contains 139 residues corresponding to a molecular weight of 14,210.

[0160] The DNA sequence rd1-odf5 (SEQ ID NO: 91) contained an open reading frame starting with a GTG codon at position 3128-3130 and ending with a termination codon (TGA) at position 4241-4243 (position numbers referring to the location in RD1). The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 92) contains 371 residues corresponding to a molecular weight of 37,647.

[0161] The DNA sequence rd1-orf8 (SEQ ID NO: 67) contained an open reading frame starting with a GTG codon at position 5502-5500 and ending with a termination codon (TAG) at position 5084-5082 (position numbers referring to the location in RD1), and the deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 68) contains 139 residues with a molecular weight of 11,737.

[0162] The DNA sequence rd1-orf9a (SEQ ID NO: 93) contained an open reading frame starting with a GTG codon at position 6146-6148 and ending with a termination codon (TAA) at position 7070-7072 (position numbers referring to the location in RD1). The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 94) contains 308 residues corresponding to a molecular weight of 33,453.

[0163] The DNA sequence rd1-orf9b (SEQ ID NO: 69) contained an open reading frame starting with an ATG codon at position 5072-5074 and ending with a termination codon (TAA) at position 7070-7072 (position numbers referring to the location in RD1). The deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 70) contains 666 residues corresponding to a molecular weight of 70,650.

[0164] Cloning of the ORF's rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a, and rd1-orf9b.

[0165] The ORF's rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a and rd1-orf9b were PCR cloned in the pMST24 (Theisen et al., 1995) (rd1-orf3) or the pQE32 (QIAGEN) (rd1-orf2, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-odf9a and rd1-orf9b) expression vector. Preparation of oligonucleotides and PCR amplification of the rd1-orf encoding genes, was carried out as described in example 2. Chromosomal DNA from M. tuberculosis H37Rv was used as template in the PCR reactions. Oligonucleotides were synthesized on the basis of the nucleotide sequence from the RD1 region (Accession no. U34848). The oligonucleotide primers were engineered to include an restriction enzyme site at the 5′ end and at the 3′ end by which a later subcloning was possible. Primers are listed in TABLE 2.

[0166] rd1-orf2. A BamHI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of rd1-orf2, and a HindIII site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The gene rd1-orf2 was subcloned in pQE32, giving pTO96.

[0167] rd1-orf3. A SmaI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of rd1-orf3, and a NcoI site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The gene rd1-orf3 was subcloned in pMST24, giving pTO87.

[0168] rd1-orf4. A BamHI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of rd1-orf4, and a HindIII site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The gene rd1-orf4 was subcloned in pQE32, giving pTO89.

[0169] rd1-orf5. A BamHI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of rd1-orf5, and a HindIII site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The gene rd1-orf5 was subcloned in pQE32, giving pTO88.

[0170] rd1-orf8. A BamHI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of rd1-orf8, and a NcoI site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The gene rd1-orf8 was subcloned in pMST24, giving pTO98.

[0171] rd1-orf9a. A BamHI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of rd1-orf9a, and a HindIII site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The gene rd1-orf9a was subcloned in pQE32, giving pTO91.

[0172] rd1-orf9b. A ScaI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of rd1-orf9b, and a Hind III site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end. The gene rd1-orf9b was subcloned in pQE32, giving pTO90.

[0173] The PCR fragments were digested with the suitable restriction enzymes, purified from an agarose gel and cloned into either pMST24 or pQE-32. The seven constructs were used to transform the E. coli XL1-Blue. Endpoints of the gene fusions were determined by the dideoxy chain termination method. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0174] Purification of Recombinant RD1-ORF2, RD1-ORF3, RD1-ORF4, RD1-ORF5, RD1-ORF8, RD1-ORF9a and RD1-ORF9b.

[0175] The rRD1-ORFs were fused N-terminally to the (His)₆-tag. Recombinant antigen was prepared as described in example 2 (with the exception that pTO91 was expressed at 30° C. and not at 37° C.), using a single colony of E. coli harbouring either the pTO87, pTO88, pTO89, pTO90, pTO91, pTO96 or pTO98 for inoculation. Purification of recombinant antigen by Ni²⁺ affinity chromatography was also carried out as described in example 2. Fractions containing purified His-rRD1-ORF2, His-rRD1-ORF3 His-rRD1-ORF4, His-rRD1-ORF5, His-rRD1-ORF8, His-rRD1-ORF9a or His-rRD1-ORF9b were pooled. The His-rRD1-ORF's were extensively dialysed against 10 mM Tris/HCl, pH 8.5, 3 M urea followed by an additional purification step performed on an anion exchange column (Mono Q) using fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden). The purification was carried out in 10 mM Tris/HCl, pH 8.5, 3 M urea and protein was eluted by a linear gradient of NaCl from 0 to 1 M. Fractions containing the His-rRD1-ORF's were pooled and subsequently dialysed extensively against 25 mM Hepes, pH 8.0 before use. TABLE 2 Sequence of the rd1-orf's oligonucleotides^(a). Orientation and oligo- nucleotide Sequences (5′ → 3′) Position (nt) Sense RD1-ORF2f CTGGGGATCCGCATGACTGCTGAACCG 886-903 RD1-ORF3f CTTCCCGGGATGGAAAAAATGTCAC 2807-2822 RD1-ORF4f GTAGGATCCTAGGAGACATCAGCGGC 4028-4015 RD1-ORF5f CTGGGGATCCGCGTGATCACCAT- 3028-3045 GCTGTGG RD1-ORF8f CTCGGATCCTGTGGGTGCAGGTCCGGC 5502-5479 GATGGGC RD1-ORF9af GTGATGTGAGCTCAGGTGAAGAA- 6144-6160 GGTGAAG RD1-ORF9bf GTGATGTGAGCTCCTATGGCGGCCGAC- 5072-5089 TACGAC Antisense RD1-ORF2r TGCAAGCTTTTAACCGGCGCTTGGGGGT 2664-2644 GC RD1-ORF3r GATGCCATGGTTAGGCGAAGACGC- 3103-3086 CGGC RD1-ORF4r CGATCTAAGCTTGGCAATGGAGGTCTA 3582-3597 RD1-ORF5r TGCAAGCTTTCACCAGTCGTCCT- 4243-4223 CTTCGTC RD1-ORF8r CTCCCATGGCTACGACAAGCTCTTC- 5083-5105 CGGCCGC RD1-ORF9a/br CGATCTAAGCTTTCAACGACGTCCAGCC 7073-7056

[0176] The nucleotide sequences of rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a, and rd1-orf9b from M. tuberculosis H37Rv are set forth in SEQ ID NO: 71, 87, 89, 91, 67, 93, and 69, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences of rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4 rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a, and rd1-orf9b are set forth in SEQ ID NO: 72, 88, 90, 92, 68, 94, and 70, respectively.

Example 4

[0177] Cloning of the Genes Expressing 17-30 kDa Antigens from ST-CF

[0178] Isolation of CFP17, CFP20, CFP21, CFP22, CFP25, and CFP28

[0179] ST-CF was precipitated with ammonium sulphate at 80% saturation. The precipitated proteins were removed by centrifugation and after resuspension washed with 8 M urea. CHAPS and glycerol were added to a final concentration of 0.5% (w/v) and 5% (v/v) respectively and the protein solution was applied to a Rotofor isoelectrical Cell (BioRad). The Rotofor Cell had been equilibrated with an 8 M urea buffer containing 0.5% (w/v) CHAPS, 5% (v/v) glycerol, 3% (v/v) Biolyt 3/5 and 1% (v/v) Biolyt 4/6 (BioRad). Isoelectric focusing was performed in a pH gradient from 3-6. The fractions were analyzed on silver-stained 10-20% SDS-PAGE. Fractions with similar band patterns were pooled and washed three times with PBS on a Centriprep concentrator (Amicon) with a 3 kDa cut off membrane to a final volume of 1-3 ml. An equal volume of SDS containing sample buffer was added and the protein solution boiled for 5 min before further separation on a Prep Cell (BioRad) in a matrix of 16% polyacrylamide under an electrical gradient. Fractions containing pure proteins with an molecular mass from 17-30 kDa were collected.

[0180] Isolation of CFP29

[0181] Anti-CFP29, reacting with CFP29 was generated by immunization of BALB/c mice with crushed gel pieces in RIBI adjuvant (first and second immunization) or aluminium hydroxide (third immunization and boosting) with two week intervals. SDS-PAGE gel pieces containing 2-5 μg of CFP29 were used for each immunization. Mice were boosted with antigen 3 days before removal of the spleen. Generation of a monoclonal cell line producing antibodies against CFP29 was obtained essentially as described by Köhler and Milstein (1975). Screening of supernatants from growing clones was carried out by immunoblotting of nitrocellulose strips containing ST-CF separated by SDS-PAGE. Each strip contained approximately 50 μg of ST-CF. The antibody class of anti-CFP29 was identified as IgM by the mouse monoclonal antibody isotyping kit, RPN29 (Amersham) according to the manufacturer's instructions.

[0182] CFP29 was purified by the following method: ST-CF was concentrated 10 fold by ultrafiltration, and ammonium sulphate precipitation in the 45 to 55% saturation range was performed. The pellet was redissolved in 50 mM sodium phosphate, 1.5 M ammonium sulphate, pH 8.5, and subjected to thiophilic adsorption chromatography (Porath et al., 1985) on an Affi-T gel column (Kem-En-Tec). Protein was eluted by a linear 1.5 to 0 M gradient of ammonium sulphate and fractions collected in the range 0.44 to 0.31 M ammonium sulphate were identified as CFP29 containing fractions in Western blot experiments with mAb Anti-CFP29. These fractions were pooled and anion exchange chromatography was performed on a Mono Q HR 5/5 column connected to an FPLC system (Pharmacia). The column was equilibrated with 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5 and the elution was performed with a linear gradient from 0 to 500 mM NaCl. From 400 to 500 mM sodium chloride, rather pure CFP29 was eluted. As a final purification step the Mono Q fractions containing CFP29 were loaded on a 12.5% SDS-PAGE gel and pure CFP29 was obtained by the multi-elution technique (Andersen and Heron, 1993).

[0183] N-terminal Sequencing and Amino Acid Analysis

[0184] CFP17, CFP20, CFP21, CFP22, CFP25, and CFP28 were washed with water on a Centricon concentrator (Amicon) with cutoff at 10 kDa and then applied to a ProSpin concentrator (Applied Biosystems) where the proteins were collected on a PVDF membrane. The membrane was washed 5 times with 20% methanol before sequencing on a Procise sequencer (Applied Biosystems).

[0185] CFP29 containing fractions were blotted to PVDF membrane after tricine SDS-PAGE (Ploug et al., 1989). The relevant bands were excised and subjected to amino acid analysis (Barkholt and Jensen, 1989) and N-terminal sequence analysis on a Procise sequencer (Applied Biosystems).

[0186] The following N-terminal sequences were obtained: (SEQ ID NO: 17) For CFP17: A/S E L D A P A Q A G T E X A V (SEQ ID NO: 18) For CFP20: A Q I T L R G N A I N T V G E (SEQ ID NO: 19) For CFP21: D P X S D I A V V F A R G T H (SEQ ID NO: 20) For CFP22: T N S P L A T A T A T L H T N (SEQ ID NO: 21) For CFP25: A X P D A E V V F A R G R F E (SEQ ID NO: 22) For CFP28: X I/V Q K S L E L I V/T V/F T A D/Q E (SEQ ID NO: 23) For CFP29: M N N L Y R D L A P V T E A A W A E I

[0187] “X” denotes an amino acid which could not be determined by the sequencing method used, whereas a “/” between two amino acids denotes that the sequencing method could not determine which of the two amino acids is the one actually present.

[0188] Cloning the Gene Encoding CFP29

[0189] The N-terminal sequence of CFP29 was used for a homology search in the EMBL database using the TFASTA program of the Genetics Computer Group sequence analysis software package. The search identified a protein, Linocin M18, from Brevibacterium linens that shares 74% identity with the 19 N-terminal amino acids of CFP29.

[0190] Based on this identity between the N-terminal sequence of CFP29 and the sequence of the Linocin M18 protein from Brevibacterium linens, a set of degenerated primers were constructed for PCR cloning of the M. tuberculosis gene encoding CFP29. PCR reactions were containing 10 ng of M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA in 1×low salt Taq+ buffer from Stratagene supplemented with 250 μM of each of the four nucleotides (Boehringer Mannheim), 0.5 mg/ml BSA (IgG technology), 1% DMSO (Merck), 5 pmoles of each primer and 0.5 unit Tag+ DNA polymerase (Stratagene) in 10 μl reaction volume. Reactions were initially heated to 94° C. for 25 sec. and run for 30 cycles of the program; 94° C. for 15 sec., 55° C. for 15 sec. and 72° C. for 90 sec, using thermocycler equipment from Idaho Technology.

[0191] An approx. 300 bp fragment was obtained using primers with the sequences: (SEQ ID NO: 24) 1: 5′-CCCGGCTCGAGAACCTSTACCGCGACCTSGCSCC (SEQ ID NO: 25) 2: 5′-GGGCCGGATCCGASGCSGCGTCCTTSACSGGYTGCCA

[0192] —where S=G/C and Y=I/C

[0193] The fragment was excised from a 1% agarose gel, purified by Spin-X spinn columns (Costar), cloned into pBluescript SK II+—T vector (Stratagene) and finally sequenced with the Sequenase kit from United States Biochemical.

[0194] The first 150 bp of this sequence was used for a homology search using the Blast program of the Sanger Mycobacterium tuberculosis database:

[0195] (http//www.sanger.ac.uk/projects/M-tuberculosis/blast_server).

[0196] This program identified a Mycobacterium tuberculosis sequence on cosmid cy444 in the database that is nearly 100% identical to the 150 bp sequence of the CFP29 protein. The sequence is contained within a 795 bp open reading frame of which the 5′ end translates into a sequence that is 100% identical to the N-terminally sequenced 19 amino acids of the purified CFP29 protein.

[0197] Finally, the 795 bp open reading frame was PCR cloned under the same PCR conditions as described above using the primers: (SEQ ID NO: 26) 3: 5′-GGAAGCCCCATATGAACAATCTCTACCG (SEQ ID NO: 27) 4: 5′-CGCGCTCAGCCCTTAGTGACTGAGCGCGACCG

[0198] The resulting DNA fragments were purified from agarose gels as described above sequenced with primer 3 and 4 in addition to the following primers: 5: 5′-GGACGTTCAAGCGACACATCGCCG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 115) 6: 5′-CAGCACGAACGCGCCGTCGATGGC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 116)

[0199] Three independent cloned were sequenced. All three clones were in 100% agreement with the sequence on cosmid cy444.

[0200] All other DNA manipulations were done according to Maniatis et al. (1989).

[0201] All enzymes other than Taq polymerase were from New England Biolabs.

[0202] Homology Searches in the Sanger Database

[0203] For CFP17, CFP20, CFP21, CFP22, CFP25, and CFP28 the N-terminal amino acid sequence from each of the proteins were used for a homology search using the blast program of the Sanger Mycobacterium tuberculosis database:

[0204] http://www.sanger.ac.uk/pathogens/TB-blast-server.html.

[0205] For CFP29 the first 150 bp of the DNA sequence was used for the search. Furthermore, the EMBL database was searched for proteins with homology to CFP29.

[0206] Thereby, the following information were obtained:

[0207] CFP17

[0208] Of the 14 determined amino acids in CFP17 a 93% identical sequence was found with MTCY1A11.16c. The difference between the two sequences is in the first amino acid: It is an A or an S in the N-terminal determined sequenced and a S in MTCY1A11. From the N-terminal sequencing it was not possible to determine amino acid number 13.

[0209] Within the open reading frame the translated protein is 162 amino acids long. The N-terminal of the protein purified from culture filtrate starts at amino acid 31 in agreement with the presence of a signal sequence that has been cleaved off. This gives a length of the mature protein of 132 amino acids, which corresponds to a theoretical molecular mass of 13833 Da and a theoretical pI of 4.4. The observed mass in SDS-PAGE is 17 kDa.

[0210] CFP20

[0211] A sequence 100% identical to the 15 determined amino acids of CFP20 was found on the translated cosmid cscy09F9. A stop codon is found at amino acid 166 from the amino acid M at position 1. This gives a predicted length of 165 amino acids, which corresponds to a theoretical molecular mass of 16897 Da and a pI of 4.2. The observed molecular weight in a SDS-PAGE is 20 kDa.

[0212] Searching the GenEMBL database using the TFASTA algorithm (Pearson and Lipman, 1988) revealed a number of proteins with homology to the predicted 164 amino acids long translated protein.

[0213] The highest homology, 51.5% identity in a 163 amino acid overlap, was found to a Haemophilus influenza Rd toxR reg. (HIHI0751).

[0214] CFP21

[0215] A sequence 100% identical to the 14 determined amino acids of CFP21 was found at MTCY39. From the N-terminal sequencing it was not possible to determine amino acid number 3; this amino acid is a C in MTCY39. The amino acid C can not be detected on a Sequencer which is probably the explanation of this difference.

[0216] Within the open reading frame the translated protein is 217 amino acids long. The N-terminally determined sequence from the protein purified from culture filtrate starts at amino acid 33 in agreement with the presence of a signal sequence that has been cleaved off. This gives a length of the mature protein of 185 amino acids, which corresponds to a theoretical molecular weigh at 18657 Da, and a theoretical pI at 4,6. The observed weight in a SDS-PAGE is 21 kDa.

[0217] In a 193 amino acids overlap the protein has 32.6% identity to a cutinase precursor with a length of 209 amino acids (CUTI_ALTBR P41744).

[0218] A comparison of the 14 N-terminal determined amino acids with the translated region (RD2) deleted in M. bovis BCG revealed a 100% identical sequence (mb3484) (Mahairas et al. (1996)).

[0219] CFP22

[0220] A sequence 100% identical to the 15 determined amino acids of CFP22 was found at MTCY10H4. Within the open reading frame the translated protein is 182 amino acids long. The N-terminal sequence of the protein purified from culture filtrate starts at amino acid 8 and therefore the length of the protein occurring in M. tuberculosis culture filtrate is 175 amino acids.

[0221] This gives a theoretical molecular weigh at 18517 Da and a pI at 6.8. The observed weight in a SDS-PAGE is 22 kDa.

[0222] In an 182 amino acids overlap the translated protein has 90.1% identity with E235739; a peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase.

[0223] CFP25

[0224] A sequence 93% identical to the 15 determined amino acids was found on the cosmid MTCY339.08c. The one amino acid that differs between the two sequences is a C in MTCY339.08c and a X from the N-terminal sequence data. On a Sequencer a C can not be detected which is a probable explanation for this difference.

[0225] The N-terminally determined sequence from the protein purified from culture filtrate begins at amino acid 33 in agreement with the presence of a signal sequence that has been cleaved off. This gives a length of the mature protein of 187 amino acids, which corresponds to a theoretical molecular weigh at 19665 Da, and a theoretical pI at 4.9. The observed weight in a SDS-PAGE is 25 kDa.

[0226] In a 217 amino acids overlap the protein has 42.9% identity to CFP21 (MTCY39.35).

[0227] CFP28

[0228] No homology was found when using the 10 determined amino acid residues 2-8, 11, 12, and 14 of SEQ ID NO: 22 in the database search.

[0229] CFP29

[0230] Sanger database searching: A sequence nearly 100% identical to the 150 bp sequence of the CFP29 protein was found on cosmid cy444. The sequence is contained within a 795 bp open reading frame of which the 5′ end translates into a sequence that is 100% identical to the N-terminally sequenced 19 amino acids of the purified CFP29 protein. The open reading frame encodes a 265 amino acid protein.

[0231] The amino acid analysis performed on the purified protein further confirmed the identity of CFP29 with the protein encoded in open reading frame on cosmid 444.

[0232] EMBL database searching: The open reading frame encodes a 265 amino acid protein that is 58% identical and 74% similar to the Linocin M18 protein (61% identity on DNA level). This is a 28.6 kDa protein with bacteriocin activity (Valdés-Stauber and Scherer, 1994; Valdés-Stauber and Scherer, 1996). The two proteins have the same length (except for 1 amino acid) and share the same theoretical physicochemical properties. We therefore suggest that CFP29 is a mycobacterial homolog to the Brevibacterium linens Linocin M18 protein.

[0233] The amino acid sequences of the purified antigens as picked from the Sanger database are shown in the following list. The amino acids determined by N-terminal sequencing are marked with bold. CFP17:   1 MTDMNPDIEK DQTSDEVTVE TTSVFRADFL SELDAPAQAG TESAVSGVEG (SEQ ID NO: 6)  51 LPPGSALLVV KRGPNAGSRF LLDQAITSAG RHPDSDIFLD DVTVSRRHAE 101 FRLENNEFNV VDVGSLNGTY VNREPVDSAV LANGDEVQIG KFRLVFLTGP 151 KQGEDDGSTG GP CFP20:   1 MAQITLRGNA INTVGELPAV GSPAPAFTLT GGDLGVISSD QFRGKSVLLN (SEQ ID NO: 8)  51 IFPSVDTPVC ATSVRTFDER AAASGATVLC VSKDLPFAQK RFCGAEGTEN 101 VMPASAFRDS FGEDYGVTIA DGPMAGLLAR AIVVIGADGN VAYTELVPEI 151 AQEPNYEAAL AALGA CFP21:   1 MTPRSLVRIV GVVVATTLAL VSAPAGGRAA HADPCSDIAV (SEQ ID NO: 10)  41 VFARGTHQAS GLGDVGEAFV DSLTSQVGGR SIGVYAVNYP ASDDYRASAS  91 NGSDDASAHI QRTVASCPNT RIVLGGYSQG ATVIDLSTSA MPPAVADHVA 141 AVALFGEPSS GFSSMLWGGG SLPTIGPLYS SKTINLCAPD DPICTGGGNI 191 MAHVSYVQSG MTSQAATFAA NRLDHAG CFP22:   1 MADCDSVTNS PLATATATLH TNRGDIKIAL FGNHAPKTVA NFVGLAQGTK (SEQ ID NO: 12)  51 DYSTQNASGG PSGPFYDGAV FHRVIQGFMI QGGDPTGTGR GGPGYKFADE 101 FHPELQFDKP YLLAMANAGP GTNGSQFFIT VGKTPHLNRR HTIFGEVIDA 151 ESQRVVEAIS KTATDGNDRP TDPVVIESIT IS CFP25:   1 MGAAAAMLAA VLLLTPITVP AGYPGAVAPA TAACPDAEVV FARGRFEPPG (SEQ ID NO: 14)  51 IGTVGNAFVS ALRSKVNKNV GVYAVKYPAD NQIDVGANDM SAHIQSMANS 101 CPNTRLVPGG YSLGAAVTDV VLAVPTQMWG FTNPLPPGSD EHIAAVALFG 151 NGSQWVGPIT NFSPAYNDRT IELCHGDDPV CHPADPNTWE ANWPQHLAGA 201 YVSSGMVNQA ADFVAGKLQ CFP29:   1 MNNLYRDLAP VTEAAWAEIE LEAARTFKRH IAGRRVVDVS DPGGPVTAAV (SEQ ID NO: 16)  51 STGRLIDVKA PTNGVIAHLR ASKPLVRLRV PFTLSRNEID DVERGSKDSD 101 WEPVKEAAKK LAFVEDRTIF EGYSAASIEG IRSASSNPAL TLPEDPREIP 151 DVISQALSEL RLAGVDGPYS VLLSADVYTK VSETSDHGYP IREHLNRLVD 201 GDIIWAPAID GAFVLTTRGG DFDLQLGTDV AIGYASHDTD TVRLYLQETL 251 TFLCYTAEAS VALSH

[0234] For all six proteins the molecular weights predicted from the sequences are in agreement with the molecular weights observed on SDS-PAGE.

[0235] Cloning of the Genes Encoding CFP17, CFP20, CFP21, CFP22 and CFP25.

[0236] The genes encoding CFP17, CFP20, CFP21, CFP22 and CFP25 were all cloned into the expression vector pMCT6, by PCR amplification with gene specific primers, for recombinant expression in E. coli of the proteins.

[0237] PCR reactions contained 10 ng of M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA in 1×low salt Taq+ buffer from Stratagene supplemented with 250 mM of each of the four nucleotides (Boehringer Mannheim), 0.5 mg/ml BSA (IgG technology), 1% DMSO (Merck), 5 pmoles of each primer and 0.5 unit Tag+ DNA polymerase (Stratagene) in 10 μl reaction volume. Reactions were initially heated to 94° C. for 25 sec. and run for 30 cycles according to the following program; 94° C. for 10 sec., 55° C. for 10 sec. and 72° C. for 90 sec, using thermocycler equipment from Idaho Technology.

[0238] The DNA fragments were subsequently run on 1% agarose gels, the bands were excised and purified by Spin-X spin columns (Costar) and cloned into pBluescript SK II+—T vector (Stratagene). Plasmid DNA was thereafter prepared from clones harbouring the desired fragments, digested with suitable restriction enzymes and subcloned into the expression vector pMCT6 in frame with 8 histidine residues which are added to the N-terminal of the expressed proteins. The resulting clones were hereafter sequenced by use of the dideoxy chain termination method adapted for supercoiled DNA using the Sequenase DNA sequencing kit version 1.0 (United States Biochemical Corp., USA) and by cycle sequencing using the Dye Terminator system in combination with an automated gel reader (model 373A; Applied Biosystems) according to the instructions provided. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0239] For cloning of the individual antigens, the following gene specific primers were used:

[0240] CFP17: Primers used for cloning of cfp17: OPBR-51: ACAGATCTGTGACGGACATGAACCCG (SEQ ID NO: 117) OPBR-52: TTTTCCATGGTCACGGGCCCCCGGTACT (SEQ ID NO: 118)

[0241] OPBR-51 and OPBR-52 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0242] CFP20: Primers used for cloning of cfp20: OPBR-53: ACAGATCTGTGCCCATGGCACAGATA (SEQ ID NO: 119) OPBR-54: TTTAAGCTTCTAGGCGCCCAGCGCGGC (SEQ ID NO: 120)

[0243] OPBR-53 and OPBR-54 create BglII and HinDIII sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0244] CFP21: Primers used for cloning of cfp21: OPBR-55: ACAGATCTGCGCATGCGGATCCGTGT (SEQ ID NO: 121) OPBR-56: TTTTCCATGGTCATCCGGCGTGATCGAG (SEQ ID NO: 122)

[0245] OPBR-55 and OPBR-56 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0246] CFP22: Primers used for cloning of cfp22: OPBR-57: ACAGATCTGTAATGGCAGACTGTGAT (SEQ ID NO: 123) OPBR-58: TTTTCCATGGTCAGGAGATGGTGATCGA (SEQ ID NO: 124)

[0247] OPBR-57 and OPBR-58 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0248] CFP25: Primers used for cloning of cfp25: OPBR-59: ACAGATCTGCCGGCTACCCCGGTGCC (SEQ ID NO: 125) OPBR-60: TTTTCGATGGCTATTGCAGCTTTCCGGC (SEQ ID NO: 126)

[0249] OPBR-59 and OPBR-60 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0250] Expression/purification of Recombinant CFP17, CFP20, CFP21, CFP22 and CFP25 proteins.

[0251] Expression and metal affinity purification of recombinant proteins was undertaken essentially as described by the manufacturers. For each protein, 1 l LB-media containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin, was inoculated with 10 ml of an overnight culture of XL1-Blue cells harbouring recombinant pMCT6 plasmids. Cultures were shaken at 37° C. until they reached a density of OD₆₀₀=0.4-0.6. IPTG was hereafter added to a final concentration of 1 mM and the cultures were further incubated 4-16 hours. Cells were harvested, resuspended in 1×sonication buffer+8 M urea and sonicated 5×30 sec. with 30 sec. pausing between the pulses. After centrifugation, the lysate was applied to a column containing 25 ml of resuspended Talon resin (Clontech, Palo Alto, USA). The column was washed and eluted as described by the manufacturers.

[0252] After elution, all fractions (1.5 ml each) were subjected to analysis by SDS-PAGE using the Mighty Small (Hoefer Scientific Instruments, USA) system and the protein concentrations were estimated at 280 nm. Fractions containing recombinant protein were pooled and dialysed against 3 M urea in 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5. The dialysed protein was further purified by FPLC (Pharmacia, Sweden) using a 6 ml Resource-Q column, eluted with a linear 0-1 M gradient of NaCl. Fractions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and protein concentrations were estimated at OD₂₈₀. Fractions containing protein were pooled and dialysed against 25 mM Hepes buffer, pH 8.5.

[0253] Finally the protein concentration and the LPS content were determined by the BCA (Pierce, Holland) and LAL (Endosafe, Charleston, USA) tests, respectively.

Example 5

[0254] Identification of CFP7A, CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP16, CFP19, CFP19B, CFP22A, CFP23A, CFP23B, CFP25A, CFP27, CFP30A, CWP32 and CFP50.

[0255] Identification of CFP16 and CFP19B.

[0256] ST-CF was precipitated with ammonium sulphate at 80% saturation. The precipitated proteins were removed by centrifugation and after resuspension washed with 8 M urea. CHAPS and glycerol were added to a final concentration of 0.5% (w/v) and 5% (v/v) respectively and the protein solution was applied to a Rotofor isoelectrical Cell (BioRad). The Rotofor Cell had been equilibrated with a 8M urea buffer containing 0.5% (w/v) CHAPS, 5% (v/v) glycerol, 3% (v/v) Biolyt 3/5 and 1% (v/v) Biolyt 4/6 (BioRad). Isoelectric focusing was performed in a pH gradient from 3-6. The fractions were analyzed on silver-stained 10-20% SDS-PAGE. Fractions with similar band patterns were pooled and washed three times with PBS on a Centriprep concentrator (Amicon) with a 3 kDa cut off membrane to a final volume of 1-3 ml. An equal volume of SDS containing sample buffer was added and the protein solution boiled for 5 min before further separation on a Prep Cell (BioRad) in a matrix of 16% polyacrylamide under an electrical gradient. Fractions containing well separated bands in SDS-PAGE were selected for N-terminal sequencing after transfer to PVDF membrane.

[0257] Isolation of CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP19, CFP23A, and CFP23B.

[0258] ST-CF was precipitated with ammonium sulphate at 80% saturation and redissolved in PBS, pH 7.4, and dialysed 3 times against 25 mM Piperazin-HCl, pH 5.5, and subjected to chromatofocusing on a matrix of PBE 94 (Pharmacia) in a column connected to an FPLC system (Pharmacia). The column was equilibrated with 25 mM Piperazin-HCl, pH 5.5, and the elution was performed with 10% PB74-HCl, pH 4.0 (Pharmacia). Fractions with similar band patterns were pooled and washed three times with PBS on a Centriprep concentrator (Amicon) with a 3 kDa cut off membrane to a final volume of 1-3 ml and separated on a Prepcell as described above.

[0259] Identification of CFP22A

[0260] ST-CF was concentrated approximately 10 fold by ultrafiltration and proteins were precipitated at 80% saturation, redissolved in PBS, pH 7.4, and dialysed 3 times against PBS, pH 7.4. 5.1 ml of the dialysed ST-CF was treated with RNase (0.2 mg/ml, QUIAGEN) and DNase (0.2 mg/ml, Boehringer Mannheim) for 6 h and placed on top of 6.4 ml of 48% (w/v) sucrose in PBS, pH 7.4, in Sorvall tubes (Ultracrimp 03987, DuPont Medical Products) and ultracentrifuged for 20 h at 257,300×g_(max), 10° C. The pellet was redissolved in 200 μl of 25 mM Tris-192 mM glycine, 0.1% SDS, pH 8.3.

[0261] Identification of CFP7A, CFP25A, CFP27, CFP30A and CFP50

[0262] For CFP27, CFP30A and CFP50 ST-CF was concentrated approximately 10 fold by ultrafiltration and ammonium sulphate precipitation in the 45 to 55% saturation range was performed. Proteins were redissolved in 50 mM sodium phosphate, 1.5 M ammonium sulphate, pH 8.5, and subjected to thiophilic adsorption chromatography on an Affi-T gel column (Kem-En-Tec). Proteins were eluted by a 1.5 to 0 M decreasing gradient of ammonium sulphate. Fractions with similar band patterns in SDS-PAGE were pooled and anion exchange chromatography. was performed on a Mono Q HR 5/5 column connected to an FPLC system (Pharmacia). The column was equilibrated with 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5, and the elution was performed with a gradient of NaCl from 0 to 1 M. Fractions containing well separated bands in SDS-PAGE were selected.

[0263] CFP7A and CFP25A were obtained as described above except for the following modification: ST-CF was concentrated approximately 10 fold by ultrafiltration and proteins were precipitated at 80% saturation, redissolved in PBS, pH 7.4, and dialysed 3 times against PBS, pH 7.4. Ammonium sulphate was added to a concentration of 1.5 M, and ST-CF proteins were loaded on an Affi T-gel column. Elution from the Affi T-gel column and anion exchange were performed as described above.

[0264] Isolation of CWP32

[0265] Heat treated H37Rv was subfractionated into subcellular fractions as described in Sørensen et al 1995. The Cell wall fraction was resuspended in 8 M urea, 0.2% (w/v) N-octyl β-_(D) glucopyranoside (Sigma) and 5% (v/v) glycerol and the protein solution was applied to a Rotofor isoelectrical Cell (BioRad) which was equilibrated with the same buffer. Isoelectric focusing was performed in a pH gradient from 3-6. The fractions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and fractions containing well separated bands were polled and subjected to N-terminal sequencing after transfer to PVDF membrane.

[0266] N-terminal Sequencing

[0267] Fractions containing CFP7A, CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP16, CFP19, CFP19B, CFP22A, CFP23A, CFP23B, CFP27, CFP30A, CWP32, and CFP50A were blotted to PVDF membrane after Tricine SDS-PAGE (Ploug et al, 1989). The relevant bands were excised and subjected to N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis on a Procise 494 sequencer (Applied Biosystems). The fraction containing CFP25A was blotted to PVDF membrane after 2-DE PAGE (isoelectric focusing in the first dimension and Tricin SDS-PAGE in the second dimension). The relevant spot was excised and sequenced as described above.

[0268] The following N-terminal sequences were obtained: CFP7A: AEDVRAEIVA SVLEVVVNEG DQIDKGDVVV LLESMYMEIP VLAEAAGTVS (SEQ ID NO: 81) CFP8A: DPVDDAFIAKLNTAG (SEQ ID NO: 73) CFP8B: DPVDAIINLDNYGX (SEQ ID NO: 74) CFP16: AKLSTDELLDAFKEM (SEQ ID NO: 79) CFP19: TTSPDPYAALPKLPS (SEQ ID NO: 82) CFP19B: DPAXAPDVPTAAQLT (SEQ ID NO: 80) CFP22A: TEYEGPKTKF HALMQ (SEQ ID NO: 83) CFP23A: VIQ/AGMVT/GHIHXVAG (SEQ ID NO: 76) CFP23B: AEMKXFKNAIVQEID (SEQ ID NO: 75) CFP25A: AIEVSVLRVF TDSDG (SEQ ID NO: 78) CWP32: TNIVVLIKQVPDTWS (SEQ ID NO: 77) CFP27: TTIVALKYPG GVVMA (SEQ ID NO: 84) CFP30A: SEPYFISPEX AMRE (SEQ ID NO: 85) CFP50: THYDVVVLGA GPGGY (SEQ ID NO: 86)

[0269] N-terminal Homology Searching in the Sanger Database and Identification of the Corresponding Genes.

[0270] The N-terminal amino acid sequence from each of the proteins was used for a homology search using the blast program of the Sanger Mycobacterium tuberculosis database:

[0271] http://www.sanger.ac.uk/projects/m-tuberculosis/TB-blast-server.

[0272] For CFP23B, CFP23A, and CFP19B no similarities were found in the Sanger database. This could be due to the fact that only approximately 70% of the M. tuberculosis genome had been sequenced when the searches were performed. The genes encoding these proteins could be contained in the remaining 30% of the genome for which no sequence data is yet available.

[0273] For CFP7A, CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP16, CFP19, CFP19B, CFP22A, CFP25A, CFP27, CFP30A, CWP32, and CFP50, the following information was obtained:

[0274] CFP7A: Of the 50 determined amino acids in CFP7A a 98% identical sequence was found in cosmid csCY07D1 (contig 256):

[0275] Score=226 (100.4 bits), Expect=1.4e-24, P=1.4e-24

[0276] Identities=49/50 (98%), Positives=49/50 (98%), Frame=−1

[0277] Query: 1 AEDVRAEIVASVLEVVVNEGDQIDKGDVVVLLESMYMEIPVLAEAAGTVS 50 AEDVRAEIVASVLEVVVNEGDQIDKGDVVVLLESM MEIPVLAEAAGTVS

[0278] Sbjct: 257679 AEDVRAEIVASVLEVVVNEGDQIDKGDVVVLLESMKMEIPVLAEAAGTVS 257530

[0279] (SEQ ID NOs: 127, 128, and 129)

[0280] The identity is found within an open reading frame of 71 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of CFP7A of 7305.9 Da and a pI of 3.762. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 7 kDa.

[0281] CFP8A: A sequence 80% identical to the 15 N-terminal amino acids was found on contig TB_(—)1884. The N-terminally determined sequence from the protein purified from culture filtrate starts at amino acid 32. This gives a length of the mature protein of 98 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical MW of 9700 Da and a pI of 3.72 This is in good agreement with the observed MW on SDS-PAGE at approximately 8 kDa. The full length protein has a theoretical MW of 12989 Da and a pI of 4.38.

[0282] CFP8B: A sequence 71% identical to the 14 N-terminal amino acids was found on contig TB_(—)653. However, careful re-evaluation of the original N-terminal sequence data confirmed the identification of the protein. The N-terminally determined sequence from the protein purified from culture filtrate starts at amino acid 29. This gives a length of the mature protein of 82 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical MW of 8337 Da and a pI of 4.23. This is in good agreement with the observed MW on SDS-PAGE at approximately 8 kDa. Analysis of the amino acid sequence predicts the presence of a signal peptide which has been cleaved of the mature protein found in culture filtrate.

[0283] CFP16: The 15 aa N-terminal sequence was found to be 100% identical to a sequence found on cosmid MTCY20H1.

[0284] The identity is found within an open reading frame of 130 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of CFP16 of 13440.4 Da and a pI of 4.59. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 16 kDa.

[0285] CFP19: The 15 aa N-terminal sequence was found to be 100% identical to a sequence found on cosmid MTCY270.

[0286] The identity is found within an open reading frame of 176 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of CFP19 of 18633.9 Da and a pI of 5.41. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 19 kDa.

[0287] CFP22A: The 15 aa N-terminal sequence was found to be 100% identical to a sequence found on cosmid MTCY1A6.

[0288] The identity is found within an open reading frame of 181 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of CFP22A of 20441.9 Da and a pI of 4.73. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 22 kDa.

[0289] CFP25A: The 15 aa N-terminal sequence was found to be 100% identical to a sequence found on contig 255.

[0290] The identity is found within an open reading frame of 228 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of CFP25A of 24574.3 Da and a pI of 4.95. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 25 kDa.

[0291] CFP27: The 15 aa N-terminal sequence was found to be 100% identical to a sequence found on cosmid MTCY261.

[0292] The identity is found within an open reading frame of 291 amino acids length. The N-terminally determined sequence from the protein purified from culture filtrate starts at amino acid 58. This gives a length of the mature protein of 233 amino acids, which corresponds to a theoretical molecular weigh at 24422.4 Da, and a theoretical pI at 4.64. The observed weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 27 kDa.

[0293] CFP30A: Of the 13 determined amino acids in CFP30A, a 100% identical sequence was found on cosmid MTCY261.

[0294] The identity is found within an open reading frame of 248 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of CFP30A of 26881.0 Da and a pI of 5.41. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 30 kDa.

[0295] CWP32: The 15 amino acid N-terminal sequence was found to be 100% identical to a sequence found on contig 281. The identity was found within an open reading frame of 266 amino acids length, corresponding to a theoretical MW of CWP32 of 28083 Da and a pI of 4.563. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 32 kDa.

[0296] CFP50: The 15 aa N-terminal sequence was found to be 100% identical to a sequence found in MTVO38.06. The identity is found within an open reading frame of 464 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of CFP50 of 49244 Da and a pI of 5.66. The observed molecular weight in an SDS-PAGE gel is 50 kDa.

[0297] Use of Homology Searching in the EMBL Database for Identification of CFP19A and CFP23.

[0298] Homology searching in the EMBL database (using the GCG package of the Biobase, Århus-DK) with the amino acid sequences of two earlier identified highly immunoreactive ST-CF proteins, using the TFASTA algorithm, revealed that these proteins (CFP21 and CFP25, EXAMPLE 3) belong to a family of fungal cutinase homologs. Among the most homologous sequences were also two Mycobacterium tuberculosis sequences found on cosmid MTCY13E12. The first, MTCY13E12.04 has 46% and 50% identity to CFP25 and CFP21 respectively. The second, MTCY13E12.05, has also 46% and 50% identity to CFP25 and CFP21. The two proteins share 62.5% aa identity in a 184 residues overlap. On the basis of the high homology to the strong T-cell antigens CFP21 and CFP25, respectively, it is believed that CFP19A and CFP23 are possible new T-cell antigens.

[0299] The first reading frame encodes a 254 amino acid protein of which the first 26 aa constitute a putative leader peptide that strongly indicates an extracellular location of the protein. The mature protein is thus 228 aa in length corresponding to a theoretical MW of 23149.0 Da and a Pi of 5.80. The protein is named CFP23.

[0300] The second reading frame encodes an 231 aa protein of which the first 44 aa constitute a putative leader peptide that strongly indicates an extracellular location of the protein. The mature protein is thus 187 aa in length corresponding to a theoretical MW of 19020.3 Da and a Pi of 7.03. The protein is named CFP19A.

[0301] The presence of putative leader peptides in both proteins (and thereby their presence in the ST-CF) is confirmed by theoretical sequence analysis using the signalP program at the Expasy molecular Biology server

[0302] (http://expasy.hcuge.ch/www/tools.html).

[0303] Searching for Homologies to CFP7A, CFP16, CFP19, CFP19A, CFP19B, CFP22A, CFP23, CFP25A, CFP27, CFP30A, CWP32 and CFP50 in the EMBL Database.

[0304] The amino acid sequences derived from the translated genes of the individual antigens were used for homology searching in the EMBL and Genbank databases using the TFASTA algorithm, in order to find homologous proteins and to address eventual functional roles of the antigens.

[0305] CFP7A: CFP7A has 44% identity and 70% similarity to hypothetical Methanococcus jannaschii protein (M. jannaschii from base 1162199-1175341), as well as 43% and 38% identity and 68 and 64% similarity to the C-terminal part of B. stearothermophilus pyruvate carboxylase and Streptococcus mutans biotin carboxyl carrier protein.

[0306] CFP7A contains a consensus sequence EAMKM for a biotin binding site motif which in this case was slightly modified (ESMKM in amino acid residues 34 to 38). By incubation with alkaline phosphatase conjugated streptavidin after SDS-PAGE and transfer to nitrocellulose it was demonstrated that native CFP7A was biotinylated.

[0307] CFP16: RpIL gene, 130 aa. Identical to the M. bovis 50s ribosomal protein L7/L12 (acc. No P37381).

[0308] CFP19: CFP19 has 47% identity and 55% similarity to E. coli pectinesterase homolog (ybhC gene) in a 150 aa overlap.

[0309] CFP19A: CFP19A has between 38% and 45% identity to several cutinases from different fungal sp.

[0310] In addition CFP19A has 46% identity and 61% similarity to CFP25 as well as 50% identity and 64% similarity to CFP21 (both proteins are earlier isolated from the ST-CF).

[0311] CFP19B: No apparent homology

[0312] CFP22A: No apparent homology

[0313] CFP23: CFP23 has between 38% and 46% identity to several cutinases from different fungal sp.

[0314] In addition CFP23 has 46% identity and 61% similarity to CFP25 as well as 50% identity and 63% similarity to CFP21 (both proteins are earlier isolated from the ST-CF).

[0315] CFP25A: CFP25A has 95% identity in a 241 aa overlap to a putative M. tuberculosis thymidylate synthase (450 aa accession No p28176).

[0316] CFP27: CFP27 has 81% identity to a hypothetical M. leprae protein and 64% identity and 78% similarity to Rhodococcus sp. proteasome beta-type subunit 2 (prcB(2) gene).

[0317] CFP30A: CFP30A has 67% identity to Rhodococcus proteasome alfa-type 1 subunit.

[0318] CWP32: The CWP32 N-terminal sequence is 100% identical to the Mycobacterium leprae sequence MLCB637.03.

[0319] CFP50: The CFP50 N-terminal sequence is 100% identical to a putative lipoamide dehydrogenase from M. leprae (Accession 415183)

[0320] Cloning of the Genes Encoding CFP7A, CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP16, CFP19, CFP19A, CFP22A, CFP23, CFP25A, CFP27, CFP30A, CWP32, and CFP50.

[0321] The genes encoding CFP7A, CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP16, CFP19, CFP19A, CFP22A, CFP23, CFP25A, CFP27, CFP30A, CWP32 and CFP50 were all cloned into the expression vector pMCT6, by PCR amplification with gene specific primers, for recombinant expression in E. coli of the proteins.

[0322] PCR reactions contained 10 ng of M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA in 1×low salt Taq+ buffer from Stratagene supplemented with 250 mM of each of the four nucleotides (Boehringer Mannheim), 0.5 mg/ml BSA (IgG technology), 1% DMSO (Merck), 5 pmoles of each primer and 0.5 unit Tag+ DNA polymerase (Stratagene) in 10 ml reaction volume. Reactions were initially heated to 94° C. for 25 sec. and run for 30 cycles of the program; 94° C. for 10 sec., 55° C. for 10 sec. and 72° C. for 90 sec, using thermocycler equipment from Idaho Technology.

[0323] The DNA fragments were subsequently run on 1% agarose gels, the bands were excised and purified by Spin-X spin columns (Costar) and cloned into pBluescript SK II+—T vector (Stratagene). Plasmid DNA was hereafter prepared from clones harbouring the desired fragments, digested with suitable restriction enzymes and subcloned into the expression vector pMCT6 in frame with 8 histidines which are added to the N-terminal of the expressed proteins. The resulting clones were hereafter sequenced by use of the dideoxy chain termination method adapted for supercoiled DNA using the Sequenase DNA sequencing kit version 1.0 (United States Biochemical Corp., USA) and by cycle sequencing using the Dye Terminator system in combination with an automated gel reader (model 373A; Applied Biosystems) according to the instructions provided. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0324] For cloning of the individual antigens, the following gene specific primers were used:

[0325] CFP7A: Primers used for cloning of cfp7A: OPBR-79: AAGAGTAGATCTATGATGGCCGAGGATGTTCGCG (SEQ ID NO: 95) OPBR-80: CGGCGACGACGGATCCTACCGCGTCGG (SEQ ID NO: 96)

[0326] OPBR-79 and OPBR-80 create BglII and BamHI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0327] CFP8A: Primers used for cloning of cfp8A: (SEQ ID NO: 154) CFP8A-F: CTGAGATCTATGAACCTACGGCGCC (SEQ ID NO: 155) CFP8A-R: CTCCCATGGTACCCTAGGACCCGGGCAGCCCCGGC

[0328] CFP8A-F and CFP8A-R create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0329] CFP8B: Primers used for cloning of cfp8B: CFP8B-F: CTGAGATCTATGAGGCTGTCGTTGACCGC (SEQ ID NO: 156) CFP8B-R: CTCCCCGGGCTTAATAGTTGTTGCAGGAGC (SEQ ID NO: 157)

[0330] CFP8B-F and CFP8B-R create BglII and SmaI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0331] CFP16: Primers used for cloning of cfp16: OPBR-104: CCGGGAGATCTATGGCAAAGCTCTCCACCGACG (SEQ ID NOs: 111 and 130) OPBR-105: CGCTGGGCAGAGCTACTTGACGGTGACGGTGG (SEQ ID NOs: 112 and 131)

[0332] OPBR-104 and OPBR-105 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0333] CFP19: Primers used for cloning of cfp19: OPBR-96: GAGGAAGATCTATGACAACTTCACCCGACCCG (SEQ ID NO: 107) OPBR-97: CATGAAGCCATGGCCCGCAGGCTGCATG (SEQ ID NO: 108)

[0334] OPBR-96 and OPBR-97 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0335] CFP19A: Primers used for cloning of cfp19A: OPBR-88: CCCCCCAGATCTGCACCACCGGCATCGGCGGGC (SEQ ID NO: 99) OPBR-89: GCGGCGGATCCGTTGCTTAGCCGG (SEQ ID NO: 100)

[0336] OPBR-88 and OPBR-89 create BglII and BamHI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0337] CFP22A: Primers used for cloning of cfp22A: OPBR-90: CCGGCTGAGATCTATGACAGAATACGAAGGGC (SEQ ID NO: 101) OPBR-91: CCCCGCCAGGGAACTAGAGGCGGC (SEQ ID NO: 102)

[0338] OPBR-90 and OPBR-91 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0339] CFP23: Primers used for cloning of cfp23: OPBR-86: CCTTGGGAGATCTTTGGACCCCGGTTGC (SEQ ID NO: 97) OPBR-87: GACGAGATCTTATGGGCTTACTGAC (SEQ ID NO: 98)

[0340] OPBR-86 and OPBR-87 both create a BglII site used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0341] CFP25A: Primers used for cloning of cfp25A: (SEQ ID NO: 113) OPBR-106: GGCCCAGATCTATGGCCATTGAGGTTTCGGTGTTGC (SEQ ID NO: 114) OPBR-107: CGCCGTGTTGCATGGCAGCGCTGAGC

[0342] OPBR-106 and OPBR-107 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0343] CFP27: Primers used for cloning of cfp27: (SEQ ID NO: 103) OPBR-92: CTGCCGAGATCTACCACCATTGTCGCGCTGAAATACCC (SEQ ID NO: 104) OPBR-93: CGCCATGGCCTTACGCGCCAACTCG

[0344] OPBR-92 and OPBR-93 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0345] CFP30A: Primers used for cloning of cfp30A: OPBR-94: GGCGGAGATCTGTGAGTTTTCCGTATTTCATC (SEQ ID NO: 105) OPBR-95: CGCGTCGAGCCATGGTTAGGCGCAG (SEQ ID NO: 106)

[0346] OPBR-94 and OPBR-95 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0347] CWP32: Primers used for cloning of cwp32: CWP32-F: GCTTAGATCTATGATTTTCTGGGCAACCAGGTA (SEQ ID NO: 158) CWP32-R: GCTTCCATGGGCGAGGCACAGGCGTGGGAA (SEQ ID NO: 159)

[0348] CWP32-F and CWP32-R create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0349] CFP50: Primers used for cloning of cfp50: OPBR-100: GGCCGAGATCTGTGACCCACTATGACGTCGTCG (SEQ ID NO: 109) OPBR-101: GGCGCCCATGGTCAGAAATTGATCATGTGGCCAA (SEQ ID NO: 110)

[0350] OPBR-100 and OPBR-101 create BglII and NcoI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0351] Expression/purification of Recombinant CFP7A, CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP16, CFP19, CFP19A, CFP22A, CFP23, CFP25A, CFP27, CFP30A, CWP32, and CFP50 proteins.

[0352] Expression and metal affinity purification of recombinant proteins was undertaken essentially as described by the manufacturers. For each protein, 1 l LB-media containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin, was inoculated with 10 ml of an overnight culture of XL1-Blue cells harbouring recombinant pMCT6 plasmids. Cultures were shaken at 37° C. until they reached a density of OD₆₀₀=0.4-0.6. IPTG was hereafter added to a final concentration of 1 mM and the cultures were further incubated 4-16 hours. Cells were harvested, resuspended in 1×sonication buffer+8 M urea and sonicated 5×30 sec. with 30 sec. pausing between the pulses.

[0353] After centrifugation, the lysate was applied to a column containing 25 ml of resuspended Talon resin (Clontech, Palo Alto, USA). The column was washed and eluted as described by the manufacturers.

[0354] After elution, all fractions (1.5 ml each) were subjected to analysis by SDS-PAGE using the Mighty Small (Hoefer Scientific Instruments, USA) system and the protein concentrations were estimated at 280 nm. Fractions containing recombinant protein were pooled and dialysed against 3 M urea in 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5. The dialysed protein was further purified by FPLC (Pharmacia, Sweden) using a 6 ml Resource-Q column, eluted with a linear 0-1 M gradient of NaCl. Fractions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and protein concentrations were estimated at OD₂₈₀. Fractions containing protein were pooled and dialysed against 25 mM Hepes buffer, pH 8.5.

[0355] Finally the protein concentration and the LPS content were determined by the BCA (Pierce, Holland) and LAL (Endosafe, Charleston, USA) tests, respectively.

Example 6

[0356] Identification of CFP7B, CFP10A, CFP11 and CFP30B.

[0357] Isolation of CFP7B

[0358] ST-CF was precipitated with ammonium sulphate at 80% saturation and redissolved in PBS, pH 7.4, and dialyzed 3 times against 25 mM Piperazin-HCl, pH 5.5, and subjected to cromatofocusing on a matrix of PBE 94 (Pharmacia) in a column connected to an FPLC system (Pharmacia). The column was equilibrated with 25 mM Piperazin-HCl, pH 5.5, and the elution was performed with 10% PB74-HCl, pH 4.0 (Pharmacia). Fractions with similar band patterns were pooled and washed three times with PBS on a Centriprep concentrator (Amicon) with a 3 kDa cut off membrane to a final volume of 1-3 ml. An equal volume of SDS containing sample buffer was added and the protein solution boiled for 5 min before further separation on a Multi-Eluter (BioRad) in a matrix of 10-20% polyacrylamid (Andersen, P. & Heron, I., 1993). The fraction containing a well separated band below 10 kDa was selected for N-terminal sequencing after transfer to a PVDF membrane.

[0359] Isolation of CFP11

[0360] ST-CF was precipitated with ammonium sulphate at 80% saturation. The precipitated proteins were removed by centrifugation and after resuspension washed with 8 M urea. CHAPS and glycerol were added to a final concentration of 0.5% (w/v) and 5% (v/v) respectively and the protein solution was applied to a Rotofor isoelectrical Cell (BioRad). The Rotofor Cell had been equilibrated with an 8M urea buffer containing 0.5% (w/v) CHAPS, 5% (v/v) glycerol, 3% (v/v) Biolyt 3/5 and 1% (v/v) Biolyt 4/6 (BioRad). Isoelectric focusing was performed in a pH gradient from 3-6. The fractions were analyzed on silver-stained 10-20% SDS-PAGE. The fractions in the pH gradient 5.5 to 6 were pooled and washed three times with PBS on a Centriprep concentrator (Amicon) with a 3 kDa cut off membrane to a final volume of 1 ml. 300 mg of the protein preparation was separated on a 10-20% Tricine SDS-PAGE (Ploug et al 1989) and transferred to a PVDF membrane and Coomassie stained. The lowest band occurring on the membrane was excised and submitted for N-terminal sequencing.

[0361] Isolation of CFP10A and CFP30B

[0362] ST-CF was concentrated approximately 10-fold by ultrafiltration and ammonium sulphate precipitation at 80% saturation. Proteins were redissolved in 50 mM sodium phosphate, 1.5 M ammonium sulphate, pH 8.5, and subjected to thiophilic adsorption chromatography on an Affi-T gel column (Kem-En-Tec). Proteins were eluted by a 1.5 to 0 M decreasing gradient of ammonium sulphate. Fractions with similar band patterns in SDS-PAGE were pooled and anion exchange chromatography was performed on a Mono Q HR 5/5 column connected to an FPLC system (Pharmacia). The column was equilibrated with 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5, and the elution was performed with a gradient of NaCl from 0 to 1 M. Fractions containing well separated bands in SDS-PAGE were selected.

[0363] Fractions containing CFP10A and CFP30B were blotted to PVDF membrane after 2-DE PAGE (Ploug et al, 1989). The relevant spots were excised and subjected to N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis.

[0364] N-terminal Sequencing

[0365] N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis was performed on a Procise 494 sequencer (applied Biosystems).

[0366] The following N-terminal sequences were obtained: CFP7B: PQGTVKWFNAEKGFG (SEQ ID NO: 168) CFP10A: NVTVSIPTILRPXXX (SEQ ID NO: 169) CFP11: TRFMTDPHAMRDMAG (SEQ ID NO: 170) CFP30B: PKRSEYRQGTPNWVD (SEQ ID NO: 171)

[0367] “X” denotes an amino acid which could not be determined by the sequencing method used.

[0368] N-terminal Homology Searching in the Sanger Database and Identification of the Corresponding Genes.

[0369] The N-terminal amino acid sequence from each of the proteins was used for a homology search using the blast program of the Sanger Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome database:

[0370] http//www.sanger.ac.uk/projects/m-tuberculosis/TB-blast-server.

[0371] For CFP11 a sequence 100% identical to 15 N-terminal amino acids was found on contig TB_(—)1314. The identity was found within an open reading frame of 98 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of 10977 Da and a pI of 5.14.

[0372] Amino acid number one can also be an Ala (insted of a Thr) as this sequence was also obtained (results not shown), and a 100% identical sequence to this N-terminal is found on contig TB_(—)671 and on locus MTCI364.09.

[0373] For CFP7B a sequence 100% identical to 15 N-terminal amino acids was found on contig TB_(—)2044 and on locus MTY15C10.04 with EMBL accession number: z95436. The identity was found within an open reading frame of 67 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of 7240 Da and a pI of 5.18.

[0374] For CFP10A a sequence 100% identical to 12 N-terminal amino acids was found on contig TB_(—)752 and on locus CY130.20 with EMBL accession number: Q10646 and Z73902. The identity was found within an open reading frame of 93 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of 9557 Da and a pI of 4.78.

[0375] For CFP30B a sequence 100% identical to 15 N-terminal amino acids was found on contig TB_(—)335. The identity was found within an open reading frame of 261 amino acids length corresponding to a theoretical MW of 27345 Da and a pI of 4.24.

[0376] The amino acid sequences of the purified antigens as picked from the Sanger database are shown in the following list. CFP7B   1 MPQGTVKWFN AEKGFGFIAP EDGSADVFVH YTEIQGTGFR TLEENQKVEF (SEQ ID NO: 147)  51 EIGHSPKGPQ ATGVRSL CFP10A   1 MNVTVSIPTI LRPHTGGQKS VSASGDTLGA VISDLEANYS GISERLMDPS (SEQ ID NO: 141)  51 SPGKLHRFVN IYVNDEDVRF SGGLATAIAD GDSVTILPAV AGG CFP11 protein sequence   1 MATRFMTDPH AMRDMAGRFE VHAQTVEDEA RRMWASAQNI SGAGWSGMAE (SEQ ID NO: 143)  51 ATSLDTMAQM NQAFRNIVNM LHGVRDGLVR DANNYEQQEQ ASQQILSS CFP30B   1 MPKRSEYRQG TPNWVDLQTT DQSAAKKFYT SLFGWGYDDN PVPGGGGVYS (SEQ ID NO: 145)  51 MATLNGEAVA AIAPMPPGAP EGMPPIWNTY IAVDDVDAVV DKVVPGGGQV 101 MMPAFDIGDA GRMSFITDPT GAAVGLWQAN RHIGATLVNE TGTLIWNELL 151 TDKPDLALAF YEAVVGLTHS SMEIAAGQNY RVLKAGDAEV GGCMEPPMPG 201 VPNHWHVYFA VDDADATAAK AAAAGGQVIA EPADIPSVGR FAVLSDPQGA 251 IFSVLKPAPQ Q

[0377] Cloning of the Genes Encoding CFP7B, CFP10A, CFP11, and CFP30B.

[0378] PCR reactions contained 10 ng of M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA in 1×low salt Taq+ buffer from Stratagene supplemented with 250 mM of each of the four nucleotides (Boehringer Mannheim), 0.5 mg/ml BSA (IgG technology), 1% DMSO (Merck), 5 pmoles of each primer and 0.5 unit Tag+ DNA polymerase (Stratagene) in 10 ml reaction volume. Reactions were initially heated to 94° C. for 25 sec. and run for 30 cycles of the program; 94° C. for 10 sec., 55° C. for 10 sec. and 72° C. for 90 sec., using thermocycler equipment from Idaho Technology.

[0379] The DNA fragments were subsequently run on 1% agarose gels, the bands were excised and purified by Spin-X spin columns (Costar) and cloned into pBluscript SK II+—T vector (Stratagene). Plasmid DNA was hereafter prepared from clones harbouring the desired fragments, digested with suitable restriction enzymes and subcloned into the expression vector pMCT6 in frame with 8 histidines which are added to the N-terminal of the expressed proteins. The resulting clones were hereafter sequenced by use of the dideoxy chain termination method adapted for supercoiled DNA using the Sequenase DNA sequencing kit version 1.0 (United States Biochemical Corp., USA) and by cycle sequencing using the Dye Terminator system in combination with an automated gel reader (model 373A; Applied Biosystems) according to the instructions provided. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0380] For cloning of the individual antigens, the following gene specific primers were used:

[0381] CFP7B: Primers used for cloning of cfp7B: CFP7B-F: CTGAGATCTAGAATGCCACAGGGAACTGTG (SEQ ID NO: 160) CFP7B-R: TCTCCCGGGGGTAACTCAGAGCGAGCGGAC (SEQ ID NO: 161)

[0382] CFP7B-F and CFP7B-R create BglII and SmaI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0383] CFP10A: Primers used for cloning of cfp10A: CFP10A-F: CTGAGATCTATGAACGTCACCGTATCC (SEQ ID NO: 162) CFP10A-R: TCTCCCGGGGCTCACCCACCGGCCACG (SEQ ID NO: 163)

[0384] CFP10A-F and CFP10A-R create BglII and SmaI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0385] CFP11: Primers used for cloning of cfp11: CFP11-F: CTGAGATCTATGGCAACACGTTTTATGACG (SEQ ID NO: 164) CEP11-R: CTCCCCGGGTTAGGTGCTGAGGATCTGCTH (SEQ ID NO: 165)

[0386] CFP11-F and CFP11-R create BglII and SmaI sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0387] CFP30B: Primers used for cloning of cfp30B: CFP30B-F: CTGAAGATCTATGCCCAAGAGAAGCGAATAC (SEQ ID NO: 166) CFP30B-R: CGGCAGCTGCTAGCATTCTCCGAATCTGCCG (SEQ ID NO: 167)

[0388] CFP30B-F and CFP30B-R create BglII and PvuII sites, respectively, used for the cloning in pMCT6.

[0389] Expression/purification of Recombinant CFP7B, CFP10A, CFP11 and CFP30B protein.

[0390] Expression and metal affinity purification of recombinant protein was undertaken essentially as described by the manufacturers. 1 l LB-media containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin, was inoculated with 10 ml of an overnight culture of XL1-Blue cells harbouring recombinant pMCT6 plasmid. The culture was shaken at 37° C. until it reached a density of OD₆₀₀=0.5. IPTG was hereafter added to a final concentration of 1 mM and the culture was further incubated 4 hours. Cells were harvested, resuspended in 1×sonication buffer+8 M urea and sonicated 5×30 sec. with 30 sec. pausing between the pulses.

[0391] After centrifugation, the lysate was applied to a column containing 25 ml of resuspended Talon resin (Clontech, Palo Alto, USA). The column was washed and eluted as described by the manufacturers.

[0392] After elution, all fractions (1.5 ml each) were subjected to analysis by SDS-PAGE using the Mighty Small (Hoefer Scientific Instruments, USA) system and the protein concentrations were estimated at 280 nm. Fractions containing recombinant protein were pooled and dialysed against 3 M urea in 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5. The dialysed protein was further purified by FPLC (Pharmacia, Sweden) using a 6 ml Resource-Q column, eluted with a linear 0-1 M gradient of NaCl. Fractions were analysed by SDS-PAGE and protein concentrations were estimated at OD₂₈₀. Fractions containing protein were pooled and dialysed against 25 mM Hepes buffer, pH 8.5.

[0393] Finally the protein concentration and the LPS content was determined by the BCA (Pierce, Holland) and LAL (Endosafe, Charleston, USA) tests, respectively.

Example 7

[0394] Using Homology Searching for Identification of ORF11-1, ORF11-2, ORF11-3 and ORF11-4.

[0395] A search of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Sanger sequence database with the amino acid sequences of CFP11, a previously identified ST-CF protein, identified 4 new very homologous proteins. All 4 proteins were at least 96% homologous to CFP11.

[0396] On the basis of the strong homology to CFP11, it is belived that ORF11-1, ORF11-2, ORF11-3 and ORF11-4 are potential new T-cell antigens.

[0397] The first open reading frame, MTCY10G2.11, homologous to CFP11, encodes a protein of 98 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical molecular mass of 10994 Da and a pI of 5.14. The protein was named ORF11-1.

[0398] The second open reading frame, MTC1364.09, homologous to CFP11, encodes a protein of 98 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical molecular mass of 10964 Da and a pI of 5.14. The protein was named ORF11-2.

[0399] The third open reading frame, MTV049.14, has an in frame stop codon. Because of the very conserved DNA sequence in this position amongst the 4 open reading frames it is however suggested that this is due to a sequence mistake.

[0400] The “T” in position 175 of the DNA sequence is therefor suggested to be a “C” as in the four other ORF's. The Q in position 59 in the amino acid sequence would have been a “stop” if the T in position 175 in the DNA sequence had not been substituted. The open reading frame encodes a protein of 98 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical molecular mass of 10994 Da and a pI of 5.14. The protein was named ORF11-3.

[0401] The fourth open reading frame, MTCY15C10.32, homologous to CFP11, encodes a protein of 98 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical molecular mass of 11024 Da and a pI of 5.14. The protein was named ORF11-4.

[0402] Using Homology Searching for Identification of ORF7-1 and ORF7-2.

[0403] A search of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Sanger sequence database with the amino acid sequences of a previously identified immunoreactive ST-CF protein, CFP7, identified 2 new very homologous proteins. The protein ORF7-1 (MTV012.33) was 84% identical to CFP7, with a primary structure of the same size as CFP7, and the protein ORF7-2 (MTV012.31) was 68% identical to CFP7 in a 69 amino acid overlap.

[0404] On the basis of the strong homology to the potent human T-cell antigen CFP7, ORF7-1 and ORF7-2 are belived to be potential new T-cell antigens.

[0405] The first open reading frame homologous to CFP7, encodes a protein of 96 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical molecular mass of 10313 Da and a pI of 4.186. The protein was named ORF7-1.

[0406] The second open reading frame homologous to CFP7, encodes a protein of 120 amino acids corresponding to a theoretical molecular mass of 12923.00 Da and a pI of 7.889. The protein was named ORF7-2.

[0407] Cloning of the Homologous orf7-1 and orf7-2.

[0408] Since ORF7-1 and ORF7-2 are nearly identical to CFP7 it was nessesary to use the flanking DNA regions in the cloning procedure, to ensure the cloning of the correct ORF. Two PCR reactions were carried out with two different primer sets. PCR reaction 1 was carried out using M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA and a primerset corresponding to the flanking DNA. PCR reaction 2 was carried out directly on the first PCR product using ORF specific primers which introduced restriction sites for use in the later cloning procedure. The sequences of the primers used are given below;

[0409] Orf7-1:

[0410] Primers used for the initial PCR reaction (1) using M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA as template; Sence: MTV012.33-R1: 5′-GGAATGAAAAGGGGTTTGTG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 186) Antisence: MTV012.33-F1: 5′-GACCACGCCCGCGCCGTGTG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:187)

[0411] Primers used for the second round of PCR (2) using PCR product 1 as template;

[0412] Sence: MTV012.33-R2: 5′-GCAACACCCGGGATGTCGCAGATTATG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 188)

[0413] (introduces a SmaI upstream of the orf7-1 start codon)

[0414] Antisence: MTV012.33-F2: 5′-CTAAGCTTGGATCCCTAGCCGCCCCACTTG-3′ ((SEQ ID NO: 189)

[0415] (introduces a BamHI downstream of the orf7-1 stop codon).

[0416] Orf7-2:

[0417] Primers used for the initial PCR reaction (1) using M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA as template;

[0418] Sence: MTV012.31-R1: 5′-GAATATTTGAAAGGGATTCGTG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 190)

[0419] Antisence: MTV012.31-F1: 5′-CTACTAAGCTTGGATCCTTAGTCTCCGGCG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 191)

[0420] (introduces a BamHI downstream of the orf7-2 stop codon)

[0421] Primers used for the second round of PCR (2) using PCR product 1 as template;

[0422] Sence: MTV012.31-R2: 5′-GCAACACCCGGGGTGTCGCAGAGTATG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 192)

[0423] (introduces a SmaI upstream of the orf7-2 start codon)

[0424] Antisence: MTV012.31-F1: 5′-CTACTAAGCTTGGATCCTTAGTCTCCGGCG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 193)

[0425] (introduces a BamHI downstream of the orf7-2 stop codon)

[0426] The genes encoding ORF7-1 and ORF7-2 were cloned into the expression vector pMST24, by PCR amplification with gene specific primers, for recombinant expression in E. coli of the proteins.

[0427] The first PCR reactions contained either 10 ng of M. tuberculosis chromosomal DNA (PCR reaction 1) or 10 ng PCR product 1 (PCR reaction 2) in 1×low salt Taq+ buffer from Stratagene supplemented with 250 mM of each of the four nucleotides (Boehringer Mannheim), 0.5 mg/ml BSA (IgG technology), 1% DMSO (Merck), 5 pmoles of each primer and 0.5 unit Tag+ DNA polymerase (Stratagene) in 10 ml reaction volume. Reactions were initially heated to 94° C. for 25 sec. and run for 30 cycles of the program; 94° C. for 10 sec., 55° C. for 10 sec., and 72° C. for 90 sec, using thermocycler equipment from Idaho Technology. The DNA fragments were subsequently run on 1% agarose gels, the bands were excised and purified by Spin-X spin columns (Costar) and cloned into pBluscript SK II+—T vector (Stratagene). Plasmid DNA was hereafter prepared from clones harbouring the desired fragments, digested with suitable restriction enzymes and subcloned into the expression vector pMST24 in frame with 6 histidines which are added to the N-terminal of the expressed proteins. The resulting clones were hereafter sequenced by use of the dideoxy chain termination method adapted for supercoiled DNA using the Sequenase DNA sequencing kit version 1.0 (United States Biochemical Corp., USA) and by cycle sequencing using the Dye Terminator system in combination with an automated gel reader (model 373A; Applied Biosystems) according to the instructions provided. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0428] Expression/purification of recombinant ORF7-1 and ORF7-2 protein. Expression and metal affinity purification of recombinant protein was undertaken essentially as described by the manufacturers. 1 I LB-media containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin, was inoculated with 10 ml of an overnight culture of XL1-Blue cells harbouring recombinant pMCT6 plasmid. The culture was shaken at 37° C. until it reached a density of OD600=0.5. IPTG was hereafter added to a final concentration of 1 mM and the culture was further incubated 2 hours. Cells were harvested, resuspended in 1×sonication buffer+8 M urea and sonicated 5×30 sec. with 30 sec. pausing between the pulses. After centrifugation, the lysate was applied to a column containing 25 ml of resuspended Talon resin (Clontech, Palo Alto, USA). The column was washed and eluted as described by the manufacturers.

[0429] After elution, all fractions (1.5 ml each) were subjected to analysis by SDS-PAGE using the Mighty Small (Hoefer Scientific Instruments, USA) system. Fractions containing recombinant protein were pooled and dialysed against 3 M urea in 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5. The dialysed protein was further purified by FPLC (Pharmacia, Sweden) using a 6 ml Resource-Q column, eluted with a linear 0-1 M gradient of NaCl. Fractions were analysed by SDS-PAGE. Fractions containing protein were pooled and dialysed against 25 mM Hepes buffer, pH 8.5. Finally the protein concentration and the LPS content was determined by the BCA (Pierce, Holland) and LAL (Endosafe, Charleston, USA) tests, respectively.

Example 8

[0430] Cloning of the Gene Expressing CFP26 (MPT51)

[0431] Synthesis and Design of Probes

[0432] Oligonucleotide primers were synthesized automatically on a DNA synthesizer (Applied Biosystems, Forster City, Calif., ABI-391, PCR-mode) deblocked and purified by ethanol precipitation.

[0433] Three oligonucleotides were synthesized (TABLE 3) on the basis of the nucleotide sequence from mpb51 described by Ohara et al. (1995). The oligonucleotides were engineered to include an EcoRI restriction enzyme site at the 5′ end and at the 3′ end by which a later subcloning was possible.

[0434] Additional four oligonucleotides were synthesized on the basis of the nucleotide sequence from MPT51 (FIG. 5 and SEQ ID NO: 41). The four combinations of the primers were used for the PCR studies.

[0435] DNA Cloning and PCR Technology

[0436] Standard procedures were used for the preparation and handling of DNA (Sambrook et al., 1989). The gene mpt51 was cloned from M. tuberculosis H37Rv chromosomal DNA by the use of the polymerase chain reactions (PCR) technology as described previously (Oettinger and Andersen, 1994). The PCR product was cloned in the pBluescriptSK+ (Stratagene).

[0437] Cloning of mPt51

[0438] The gene, the signal sequence and the Shine Delgarno region of MPT51 was cloned by use of the PCR technology as two fragments of 952 bp and 815 bp in pBluescript SK+, designated pTO52 and pTO53.

[0439] DNA Sequencing

[0440] The nucleotide sequence of the cloned 952 bp M. tuberculosis H37Rv PCR fragment, pTO52, containing the Shine Dalgarno sequence, the signal peptide sequence and the structural gene of MPT51, and the nucleotide sequence of the cloned 815 bp PCR fragment containing the structural gene of MPT51, pTO53, were determined by the dideoxy chain termination method adapted for supercoiled DNA by use of the Sequenase DNA sequencing kit version 1.0 (United States Biochemical Corp., Cleveland, Ohio) and by cycle sequencing using the Dye Terminator system in combination with an automated gel reader (model 373A; Applied Biosystems) according to the instructions provided. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0441] The nucleotide sequences of pTO52 and pTO53 and the deduced amino acid sequence are shown in FIG. 5. The DNA sequence contained an open reading frame starting with a ATG codon at position 45-47 and ending with a termination codon (TAA) at position 942-944. The nucleotide sequence of the first 33 codons was expected to encode the signal sequence. On the basis of the known N-terminal amino acid sequence (Ala-Pro-Tyr-Glu-Asn) of the purified MPT51 (Nagai et al., 1991) and the features of the signal peptide, it is presumed that the signal peptidase recognition sequence (Ala-X-Ala) (von Heijne, 1984) is located in front of the N-terminal region of the mature protein at position 144. Therefore, a structural gene encoding MPT51, mpt51, derived from M. tuberculosis H37Rv was found to be located at position 144-945 of the sequence shown in FIG. 11. The nucleotide sequence of mpt51 differed with one nucleotide compared to the nucleotide sequence of MPB51 described by Ohara et al. (1995) (FIG. 11). In mpt51 at position 780 was found a substitution of a guanine to an adenine. From the deduced amino acid sequence this change occurs at a first position of the codon giving a amino acid change from alanine to threonine. Thus it is concluded, that mpt51 consists of 801 bp and that the deduced amino acid sequence contains 266 residues with a molecular weight of 27,842, and MPT51 show 99.8% identity to MPB51.

[0442] Subcloning of mpt51

[0443] An EcoRI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of mpt51 so that only the coding region of the gene encoding MPT51 would be expressed, and an EcoRI site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end.

[0444] DNA of the recombinant plasmid pTO53 was cleaved at the EcoRI sites. The 815 bp fragment was purified from an agarose gel and subcloned into the EcoRI site of the pMAL-cR1 expression vector (New England Biolabs), pTO54. Vector DNA containing the gene fusion was used to transform the E. coli XL1-Blue by the standard procedures for DNA manipulation.

[0445] The endpoints of the gene fusion were determined by the dideoxy chain termination method as described under section DNA sequencing. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0446] Preparation and Purification of rMPT51

[0447] Recombinant antigen was prepared in accordance with instructions provided by New England Biolabs. Briefly, single colonies of E. coli harbouring the pTO54 plasmid were inoculated into Luria-Bertani broth containing 50 μg/ml ampicillin and 12.5 μg/ml tetracycline and grown at 37° C. to 2×10⁸ cells/ml. Isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) was then added to a final concentration of 0.3 mM and growth was continued for further 2 hours. The pelleted bacteria were stored overnight at −20° C. in new column buffer (20 mM Tris/HCl, pH 7.4, 200 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol (DTT)) and thawed at 4° C. followed by incubation with 1 mg/ml lysozyme on ice for 30 min and sonication (20 times for 10 sec with intervals of 20 sec). After centrifugation at 9,000×g for 30 min at 4° C., the maltose binding protein-MPT51 fusion protein (MBP-rMPT51) was purified from the crude extract by affinity chromatography on amylose resin column. MBP-rMPT51 binds to amylose. After extensive washes of the column, the fusion protein was eluted with 10 mM maltose. Aliquots of the fractions were analyzed on 10% SDS-PAGE. Fractions containing the fusion protein of interest were pooled and was dialysed extensively against physiological saline.

[0448] Protein concentration was determined by the BCA method supplied by Pierce (Pierce Chemical Company, Rockford, Ill.). TABLE 3 Sequence of the mpt51 oligonucleotides^(a). Orientation and oligonucleotide^(a) Sequences (5′-3′) Position^(b) (nucleotide) Sense MPT51-1 CTCGAATTCGCCGGGTGCACACAG (SEQ ID NO: 28)  6-21 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-3 CTCGAATTCGCCCCATACGAGAAG (SEQ ID NO: 29) 143-158 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-5 GTGTATCTGCTGGAC (SEQ ID NO: 30) 228-242 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-7 CCGACTGGCTGGCCG (SEQ ID NO: 31) 418-432 (SEQ ID NO: 41) Antisense MPT51-2 GAGGAATTCGCTTAGCGGATCGCA (SEQ ID NO: 32) 946-932 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-4 CCCACATTCCGTTGG (SEQ ID NO: 33) 642-628 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-6 GTCCAGCAGATACAC (SEQ ID NO: 34) 242-228 (SEQ ID NO: 41)

[0449] Cloning of mpt51 in the expression vector pMST24.

[0450] A PCR fragment was produced from pTO52 using the primer combination MPT51-F and MPT51-R (TABLE 4). A BamHI site was engineered immediately 5′ of the first codon of mpt51 so that only the coding region of the gene encoding MPT51 would be expressed, and an NcoI site was incorporated right after the stop codon at the 3′ end.

[0451] The PCR product was cleaved at the BamHI and the NcoI site. The 811 bp fragment was purified from an agarose gel and subcloned into the BamHI and the NcoI site of the pMST24 expression vector, pTO86. Vector DNA containing the gene fusion was used to transform the E. coli XL1-Blue by the standard procedures for DNA manipulation.

[0452] The nucleotide sequence of complete gene fusion was determined by the dideoxy chain termination method as described under section DNA sequencing. Both strands of the DNA were sequenced.

[0453] Preparation and Purification of rMPT51.

[0454] Recombinant antigen was prepared from single colonies of E. coli harbouring the pTO86 plasmid inoculated into Luria-Bertani broth containing 50 μg/ml ampicillin and 12.5 μg/ml tetracycline and grown at 37° C. to 2×10⁸ cells/ml. lsopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) was then added to a final concentration of 1 mM and growth was continued for further 2 hours. The pelleted bacteria were resuspended in BC 100/20 buffer (100 mM KCl, 20 mM Imidazole, 20 mM Tris/HCl, pH 7.9, 20% glycerol). Cells were broken by sonication (20 times for 10 sec with intervals of 20 sec). After centrifugation at 9,000×g for 30 min. at 4° C. the insoluble matter was resuspended in BC 100/20 buffer with 8 M urea followed by sonication and centrifugation as above. The 6×His tag-MPT51 fusion protein (His-rMPT51) was purified by affinity chromatography on Ni-NTA resin column (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). His-rMPT51 binds to Ni-NTA. After extensive washes of the column, the fusion protein was eluted with BC 100/40 buffer (100 mM KCl, 40 mM Imidazole, 20 mM Tris/HCl, pH 7.9, 20% glycerol) with 8 M urea and BC 1000/40 buffer (1000 mM KCl, 40 mM Imidazole, 20 mM Tris/HCl, pH 7.9, 20% glycerol) with 8 M urea. His-rMPT51 was extensive dialysed against 10 mM Tris/HCl, pH 8.5, 3 M urea followed by purification using fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden), over an anion exchange column (Mono Q) using 10 mM Tris/HCl, pH 8.5, 3 M urea with a 0-1 M NaCl linear gradient. Fractions containing rMPT51 were pooled and subsequently dialysed extensively against 25 mM Hepes, pH 8.0 before use.

[0455] Protein concentration was determined by the BCA method supplied by Pierce (Pierce Chemical Company, Rockford, Ill.).

[0456] The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) content was determined by the limulus amoebocyte lysate test (LAL) to be less than 0.004 ng/μg rMPT51, and this concentration had no influence on cellular activity. TABLE 4 Sequence of the mpt51 oligonucleotides. Orientation and Position oligonucleotide Sequences (5′-3′) (nt) Sense MPT51-F CTCGGATCCTGCCCCATACGAGAACCTG 139- 156 Antisense MPT51-R CTCCCATGGTTAGCGGATCGCACCG 939- 924

Example 9

[0457] Mapping of the Purified Antigens in a 2DE System.

[0458] In order to characterize the purified antigens they were mapped in a 2-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) reference system. This consists of a silver stained gel containing ST-CF proteins separated by isoelectrical focusing followed by a separation according to size in a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The 2DE was performed according to Hochstrasser et al. (1988). 85 μg of ST-CF was applied to the isoelectrical focusing tubes where BioRad ampholytes BioLyt 4-6 (2 parts) and BioLyt 5-7 (3 parts) were included. The first dimension was performed in acrylamide/piperazin diacrylamide tube gels in the presence of urea, the detergent CHAPS and the reducing agent DTT at 400 V for 18 hours and 800 V for 2 hours. The second dimension 10-20% SDS-PAGE was performed at 100 V for 18 hours and silver stained. The identification of CFP7, CFP7A, CFP7B, CFP8A, CFP8B, CFP9, CFP11, CFP16, CFP17, CFP19, CFP20, CFP21, CFP22, CFP25, CFP27, CFP28, CFP29, CFP30A, CFP50, and MPT51 in the 2DE reference gel were done by comparing the spot pattern of the purified antigen with ST-CF with and without the purified antigen. By the assistance of an analytical 2DE software system (Phoretix International, UK) the spots have been identified in FIG. 12. The position of MPT51 and CFP29 were confirmed by a Western blot of the 2DE gel using the Mab's anti-CFP29 and HBT 4.

Example 10

[0459] Biological Activity of the Purified Antigens.

[0460] IFN-γ Induction in the Mouse Model of TB Infection

[0461] The recognition of the purified antigens in the mouse model of memory immunity to TB (described in example 1) was investigated. The results shown in TABLE 5 are representative for three experiments.

[0462] A very high IFN-γ response was induced by two of the antigens CFP17 and CFP21 at almost the same high level as ST-CF. TABLE 5 IFN-γ release from splenic memory effector cells from C57BL/6J mice isolated after reinfection with M. tuberculosis after stimulation with native antigens. Antigen^(a) IFN-γ (pg/ml)^(b) ST-CF 12564 CFP7 ND^(d) CFP9 ND CFP17  9251 CFP20  2388 CFP21 10732 CFP22 + CFP25^(c)  5342 CFP26 (MPT51) ND CFP28  2818 CFP29  3700

[0463] Skin Test Reaction in TB Infected Guinea Pigs

[0464] The skin test activity of the purified proteins was tested in M. tuberculosis infected guinea pigs.

[0465] 1 group of guinea pigs was infected via an ear vein with 1×10⁴ CFU of M. tuberculosis H37Rv in 0.2 ml PBS. After 4 weeks skin tests were performed and 24 hours after injection erythema diameter was measured.

[0466] As seen in TABLES 6 and 6a all of the antigens induced a significant Delayed Type Hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction. TABLE 6 DTH erythema diameter in guinea pigs infected with 1 × 10⁴ CFU of M. tuberculosis, after stimulation with native antigens. Antigen^(a) Skin reaction (mm)^(b) Control 2.00 PPD^(c) 15.40 (0.53) CFP7 ND^(e) CFP9 ND CFP17 11.25 (0.84) CFP20  8.88 (0.13) CFP21 12.44 (0.79) CFP22 + CFP25^(d)  9.19 (3.10) CFP26 (MPT51) ND CFP28  2.90 (1.28) CFP29  6.63 (0.88)

[0467] Together these analyses indicate that most of the antigens identified were highly biologically active and recognized during TB infection in different animal models. TABLE 6a DTH erythema diameter of recombinant antigens in outbred guinea pigs infected with 1 × 10⁴ CFU of M. Tuberculosis. Antigen^(a) Skin reaction (mm)^(b) Control  2.9 (0.3) PPD^(c) 14.5 (1.0) CFP 7a 13.6 (1.4) CFP 17  6.8 (1.9) CFP 20  6.4 (1.4) CFP 21  5.3 (0.7) CFP 25 10.8 (0.8) CFP 29  7.4 (2.2) MPT 51  4.9 (1.1)

[0468] TABLE 6B DTH erythema diameter in guinea pigs i.v. infected with 1 × 10⁴ CFU M. tuberculosis, after stimulation with 10 μg antigen. Antigen Mean (mm) SEM PBS  3, 25 0, 48 PPD (2TU) 10, 88 1    nCFP7B 7, 0 0, 46 nCFP19 6, 5 0, 74

[0469] The values presented are the mean of erythema diameter of four animals.

[0470] The results in Table 6B indicates biological activity of nCFP7B and nCFP19.

[0471] Biological Activity of the Purified Recombinant Antigens.

[0472] Interferon-γ Induction in the Mouse Model of TB Infection.

[0473] Primary infections. 8 to 12 weeks old female C57BL/6j(H-2^(b)), CBA/J(H-2^(k)), DBA.2(H-2^(d)) and A.SW(H-2^(s)) mice (Bomholtegaard, Ry) were given intravenous infections via the lateral tail vein with an inoculum of 5×10⁴ M. tuberculosis suspended in PBS in a vol. of 0.1 ml. 14 days postinfection the animals were sacrificed and spleen cells were isolated and tested for the recognition of recombinant antigen.

[0474] As seen in TABLE 7 the recombinant antigens rCFP7A, rCFP17, rCFP21, rCFP25, and rCFP29 were all recognized in at least two strains of mice at a level comparable to ST-CF. rMPT51 and rCFP7 were only recognized in one or two strains respectively, at a level corresponding to no more than ⅓ of the response detected after ST-CF stimulation. Neither of the antigens rCFP20 and rCFP22 were recognized by any of the four mouse strains. As shown in TABLE 7A, the recombinant antigens rCFP27, RD1-ORF2, rCFP10A, rCFP19, and rCFP25A were all recognized in at least two strains of mice at a level comparable to ST-CF, whereas rCFP23, and rCFP30B only were recognized in one strain at this level. rCFP30A, RD1-ORF5, rCFP16 gave rise to an IFN-γ release in two mice strains at a level corresponding to ⅔ of the response after stimulation with ST-CF. RD1-ORF3 was recognized in two strains at a level of ⅓ of ST-CF.

[0475] The native CFP7B was recognized in two strains at a level of ⅓ of the response seen after stimulation with ST-CF.

[0476] Memory responses. 8-12 weeks old female C57BL/6j(H-2^(b)) mice (Bomholtegaard, Ry) were given intravenous infections via the lateral tail vein with an inoculum of 5×10⁴ M. tuberculosis suspended in PBS in a vol. of 0.1 ml. After 1 month of infection the mice were treated with isoniazid (Merck and Co., Rahway, N.J.) and rifabutin (Farmatalia Carlo Erba, Milano, Italy) in the drinking water, for two months. The mice were rested for 4-6 months before being used in experiments. For the study of the recall of memory immunity, animals were infected with an inoculum of 1×10⁶ bacteria i.v. and sacrificed at day 4 postinfection. Spleen cells were isolated and tested for the recognition of recombinant antigen.

[0477] As seen from TABLE 8, IFN-γ release after stimulation with rCFP17, rCFP21 and rCFP25 was at the same level as seen from spleen cells stimulated with ST-CF. Stimulation with rCFP7, rCFP7A and rCFP29 all resulted in an IFN-γ no higher than ⅓ of the response seen with ST-CF. rCFP22 was not recognized by IFN-γ producing cells. None of the antigens stimulated IFN-γ release in naive mice. Additionally non of the antigens were toxic to the cell cultures.

[0478] As shown in TABLE 8A, IFN-γ release after stimulation with RD1-ORF2 and rCFP19 was at the same level as seen from spleen cells stimulated with ST-CF. Stimulation with rCFP10A and rCFP30A gave rise to an IFN-γ release of ⅔ of the response after stimulation with ST-CF, whereas rCFP27, RD1-ORF5, rCFP23, rCFP25A and rCFP30B all resulted in an IFN-γ release no higher than ⅓ of the response seen with ST-CF. RD1-ORF3 and rCFP16 were not recognized by IFN-γ producing memory cells. TABLE 7 T cell responses in primary TB infection. Name c57BL/6J(H2^(b)) DBA.2(H2^(d)) CBA/J(H2^(k)) A.SW(H2^(s)) rCFP7 + + − − rCFP7A +++ +++ +++ + rCFP17 +++ + +++ + rCFP20 − − − − rCFP21 +++ +++ +++ + rCFP22 − − − − rCFP25 +++ ++ +++ + rCFP29 +++ +++ +++ ++ rMPT51 + − − −

[0479] TABLE 7a T cell responses in primary TB infection. C57Bl/6j Name (H2^(b)) DBA.2 (H2^(d)) CBA/J (H2^(k)) A.SW (H2^(s)) rCFP27 ++ ++ +++ +++ rCFP30A − + ++ ++ RD1-ORF2 +++ +++ +++ ++ RD1-ORF3 − − + + RD1-ORF5 + + ++ ++ rCFP10A +++ n.d. +++ n.d. rCFP16 ++ n.d. ++ n.d. rCFP19 +++ n.d. +++ n.d. rCFP23 ++ n.d. +++ n.d. rCFP25A +++ n.d. +++ n.d. rCFP30B + n.d. +++ n.d. CFP7B(native) + n.d. + n.d.

[0480] TABLE 8 T cell responses in memory immune animals. Name Memory response rCFP7 + rCFP7A ++ rCFP17 +++ rCFP21 +++ rCFP22 − rCFP29 + rCFP25 +++ rMPT51 +

[0481] TABLE 8A T cell responses in memory immune animals. Name Memory response rCFP27 + rCFP30A ++ RD1-ORF2 +++ RD1-ORF3 − RD1-ORF5 + rCFP10A ++ rCFP16 − rCFP19 +++ rCFP23 + rCFP25A + rCFP30B +

[0482] Interferon-γ Induction in Human TB Patients and BCG Vaccinated People.

[0483] Human donors: PBMC were obtained from healthy BCG vaccinated donors with no known exposure to patients with TB and from patients with culture or microscopy proven infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Blood samples were drawn from the TB patients 1-4 months after diagnosis.

[0484] Lymphocyte preparations and cell culture: PBMC were freshly isolated by gradient centrifugation of heparinized blood on Lymphoprep (Nycomed, Oslo, Norway). The cells were resuspended in complete medium: RPMI 1640 (Gibco, Grand Island, N.Y.) supplemented with 40 μg/ml streptomycin, 40 U/ml penicillin, and 0.04 mM/ml glutamine, (all from Gibco Laboratories, Paisley, Scotland) and 10% normal human ABO serum (NHS) from the local blood bank. The number and the viability of the cells were determined by trypan blue staining. Cultures were established with 2.5×10⁵ PBMC in 200 μl in microtitre plates (Nunc, Roskilde, Denmark) and stimulated with no antigen, ST-CF, PPD (2.5 μg/ml); rCFP7, rCFP7A, rCFP17, rCFP20, rCFP21, rCFP22, rCFP25, rCFP26, rCFP29, in a final concentration of 5 μg/ml. Phytohaemagglutinin, 1 μg/ml (PHA, Difco laboratories, Detroit, Mich. was used as a positive control. Supernatants for the detection of cytokines were harvested after 5 days of culture, pooled and stored at −80° C. until use.

[0485] Cytokine analysis: Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) was measured with a standard ELISA technique using a commercially available pair of mAb's from Endogen and used according to the instructions for use. Recombinant IFN-γ (Gibco laboratories) was used as a standard. The detection level for the assay was 50 μg/ml. The variation between the duplicate wells did not exceed 10% of the mean. Responses of 9 individual donors are shown in TABLE 9.

[0486] A seen in TABLE 9 high levels of IFN-γ release are obtained after stimulation with several of the recombinant antigens. rCFP7a and rCFP17 gives rise to responses comparable to STCF in almost all donors. rCFP7 seems to be most strongly recognized by BCG vaccinated healthy donors. rCFP21, rCFP25, rCFP26, and rCFP29 gives rise to a mixed picture with intermediate responses in each group, whereas low responses are obtained by rCFP20 and rCFP22.

[0487] As is seen from Table 9A RD1-ORF2 and RD1-ORF5 give rise to IFN-γ responses close to the level of ST-CF. Between 60% and 90% of the donors show high IFN-γ responses (>1000 pg/ml). rCFP30A gives rise to a mixed response with 40-50% high responders, whilst low responses are obtained with RD1-ORF3. TABLE 9 Results from the stimulation of human blood cells from 5 healthy BCG vac- cinated and 4 Tb patients with recombinant antigen. ST-CF, PPD and PHA are shown for comparison. Results are given in pg IFN-γ/ml. Controls, Healthy, BCG vaccinated, no known TB exposure donor: no ag PHA PPD STCF CFP7 CFP17 CFP7A CFP20 CFP21 CFP22 CFP25 1 6 9564 6774 3966 7034 69 1799 58 152 73 182 2 48 12486 6603 8067 3146 10044 5267 29 6149 51 1937 3 190 11929 10000 8299 8015 11563 8641 437 3194 669 2531 4 10 21029 4106 3537 1323 1939 5211 1 284 1 1344 5 1 18750 14209 13027 17725 8038 19002 1 3008 1 2103 TB patients, 1-4 month after diagnosis no ag PHA PPD STCF CFP7 CFP17 CFP7A CFP20 CFP21 CFP22 CFP25 6 9 8973 5096 6145 852 4250 4019 284 1131 48 2400 7 1 12413 6281 3393 168 6375 4505 11 4335 16 3082 8 4 11915 7671 7375 104 2753 3356 119 407 437 2069 9 32 22130 16417 17213 8450 9783 16319 91 5957 67 10043

[0488] TABLE 9A Results from the stimulation of human blood cells from 10 healthy BCG vaccinated or non vaccinated ST-CF responsive healthy donors and 10 Tb patients with recombinant antigen are shown. ST-CF, PPD and PHA are included for comparison. Results are given in pg IFN-γ/ml and negative values below 300 pg/ml are shown as “<”. nd = not done. Donor no ag PHA PPD STCF RD1-ORF2 RD1-ORF3 RD1-ORF5 rCFP30A Controls, Healthy BCG vaccinated, or non vaccinated ST-CF positive 10 < nd 3500 4200 1250 < 690 nd 11 < nd 5890 4040 5650 880 9030 nd 12 < nd 6480 3330 2310 < 3320 nd 13 < nd 7440 4570 920 < 1230 nd 14 < 8310 nd 2990 1870 < 4880 < 15 < 10820 nd 4160 5690 < 810 3380 16 < 8710 nd 5690 1630 < 5600 < 17 < 7020 4480 5340 2030 nd 670 < 18 < 8370 6250 4780 3850 nd 370 1730 19 < 8520 1600 310 5110 nd 2330 1800 Tb patients, 1-4 month after diagnosis 20 < nd 10670 12680 2020 < 9670 nd 21 < nd 3010 1420 850 < 350 nd 22 < nd 8450 7850 430 < 1950 nd 23 < 10060 nd 3730 < < 350 < 24 < 10830 nd 6180 2090 < 320  730 25 < 9000 nd 3200 4760 < 4960 2820 26 < 10740 nd 7650 4710 < 1170 2280 27 < 7550 6430 6220 2030 nd 3390 3069 28 < 8090 5790 4850 1100 nd 2095  550 29 < 7790 4800 4260 2800 nd 1210  420

Example 11

[0489] The recombinant antigens were tested individually as subunit vaccines in mice. Eleven groups of 6-8 weeks old, female C57BI/6j mice (Bomholtegård, Denmark) were immunized subcutaneously at the base of the tail with vaccines of the following composition:

[0490] Group 1: 10 μg CFP7

[0491] Group 2: 10 μg CFP17

[0492] Group 3: 10 μg CFP21

[0493] Group 4: 10 μg CFP22

[0494] Group 5: 10 μg CFP25

[0495] Group 6: 10 μg CFP29

[0496] Group 7: 10 μg MPT51

[0497] Group 8: 50 μg ST-CF

[0498] Group 9: Adjuvant control group

[0499] Group 10: BCG 2.5×10⁵/ml, 0.2 ml

[0500] Group 11: Control group: Untreated

[0501] All the subunit vaccines were given with DDA as adjuvant. The animals were vaccinated with a volume of 0.2 ml. Two weeks after the first injection and three weeks after the second injection group 1-9 were boosted a little further up the back. One week after the last injection the mice were bled and the blood cells were isolated. The immune response induced was monitored by release of IFN-γ into the culture supernatant when stimulated in vitro with the homologous protein.

[0502] 6 weeks after the last immunization the mice were aerosol challenged with 5×10⁶ viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis/ml. After 6 weeks of infection the mice were killed and the number of viable bacteria in lung and spleen of infected mice was determined by plating serial 3-fold dilutions of organ homogenates on 7H11 plates. Colonies were counted after 2-3 weeks of incubation. The protective efficacy is expressed as the difference between 1og₁₀ values of the geometric mean of counts obtained from five mice of the relevant group and the geometric mean of counts obtained from five mouse of the relevant control group.

[0503] The results from the experiments are presented in the following table.

[0504] Immunogenicity and protective efficacy in mice, of ST-CF and 7 subunit vaccines Subunit Vaccine Immunogenicity Protective efficacy ST-CF +++ +++ CFP7 ++ − CFP17 +++ +++ CFP21 +++ ++ CFP22 − − CFP25 +++ +++ CFP29 +++ +++ MPT51 +++ ++

[0505] In conclusion, we have identified a number of proteins inducing high levels of protection. Three of these CFP17, CFP25 and CFP29 giving rise to similar levels of protection as ST-CF and BCG while two proteins CFP21 and MPT51 induces protections around ⅔ the level of BCG and ST-CF. Two of the proteins CFP7 and CFP22 did not induce protection in the mouse model.

[0506] As is described for rCFP7, rCFP17, rCFP21, rCFP22, rCFP25, rCFP29 and rMPT51 the two antigens rCFP7A and rCFP30A were tested individually as subunit vaccines in mice. C57BI/6j mice were immunized as described for rCFP7, rCFP17, rCFP21, rCFP22, rCFP25, rCFP29 and rMPT51 using either 10 μg rCFP7A or 10 μg rCFP30A. Controls were the same as in the experiment including rCFP7, rCFP17, rCFP21, rCFP22, rCFP25, rCFP29 and rMPT51.

[0507] Immunogenicity and protective efficacy in mice, of ST-CF and 2 subunit vaccines. Subunit vaccine Immunogenicity Protective efficacy ST-CF +++ +++ rCFP7A +++ +++ rCFP30A +++ −

[0508] In conclusion we have identified two strong immunogens of which one, rCFP7A, induces protection at the level of ST-CF.

Example 12

[0509] Species distribution of cfp7, cfp9, mpt51, rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a and rd1-orf9b as well as of cfp7a, cfp7b, cfp10a, cfp17, cfp20, cfp21, cfp22, cfp22a, cfp23, cfp25 and cfp25a.

[0510] Presence of cfP7, cfp9, mpt51, rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a and rd1-orf9b in Different Mycobacterial Species.

[0511] In order to determine the distribution of the cfp7, cfp9, mpt51, rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a and rd1-orf9b genes in species belonging to the M. tuberculosis-complex and in other mycobacteria PCR and/or Southern blotting was used. The bacterial strains used are listed in TABLE 10. Genomic DNA was prepared from mycobacterial cells as described previously (Andersen et al. 1992).

[0512] PCR analyses were used in order to determine the distribution of the cfp7, cfp9 and mpt51 gene in species belonging to the tuberculosis-complex and in other mycobacteria. The bacterial strains used are listed in TABLE 10. PCR was performed on genomic DNA prepared from mycobacterial cells as described previously (Andersen et al., 1992).

[0513] The oligonucleotide primers used were synthesised automatically on a DNA synthesizer (Applied Biosystems, Forster City, Calif., ABI-391, PCR-mode), deblocked, and purified by ethanol precipitation. The primers used for the analyses are shown in TABLE 11.

[0514] The PCR amplification was carried out in a thermal reactor (Rapid cycler, Idaho Technology, Idaho) by mixing 20 ng chromosomal with the mastermix (contained 0.5 μM of each oligonucleotide primer, 0.25 μM BSA (Stratagene), low salt buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH8.8, 10 mM KCl, 10 mM (NH₄)₂SO₄, 2 mM MgSO₄ and 0.1% Triton X-100) (Stratagene), 0.25 mM of each deoxynucleoside triphosphate and 0.5 U Taq Plus Long DNA polymerase (Stratagene)). Final volume was 10 μl (all concentrations given are concentrations in the final volume). Predenaturation was carried out at 94° C. for 30 s. 30 cycles of the following was performed: Denaturation at 94° C. for 30 s, annealing at 55° C. for 30 s and elongation at 72° C. for 1 min.

[0515] The following primer combinations were used (the length of the amplified products are given in parentheses):

[0516] mpt51: MPT51-3 and MPT51-2 (820 bp), MPT51-3 and MPT51-6 (108 bp), MPT51-5 and MPT51-4 (415 bp), MPT51-7 and MPT51-4 (325 bp).

[0517] cfp7: pVF1 and PVR1 (274 bp), pVF1 and PVR2 (197 bp), pVF3 and PVR1 (302 bp), pVF3 and PVR2 (125 bp).

[0518] cfp9: stR3 and stF1 (351 bp). TABLE 10 Mycobacterial strains used in this Example. Species and strain(s) Source  1. M. tuberculosis H37Rv ATCC^(a) (ATCC 27294)  2. H37Ra ATCC (ATCC 25177)  3. Erdman Obtained from A. Lazlo, Ottawa, Canada  4. M. bovis BCG substrain: Danish 1331 SSI^(b)  5. Chinese SSI^(c)  6. Canadian SSI^(c)  7. Glaxo SSI^(c)  8. Russia SSI^(c)  9. Pasteur SSI^(c) 10. Japan WHO^(e) 11. M. bovis MNC27 SSI^(c) 12. M. africanum Isolated from a Danish patient 13. M. leprae (armadillo-derived) Obtained from J. M. Colston, London, UK 14. M. avium (ATCC 15769) ATCC 15. M. kansasii (ATCC 12478) ATCC 16. M. marinum (ATCC 927) ATCC 17. M. scrofulaceum (ATCC 19275) ATCC 18. M. intercellulare (ATCC 15985) ATTC 19. M. fortuitum (ATCC 6841) ATCC 20. M. xenopi Isolated from a Danish patient 21. M. flavescens Isolated from a Danish patient 22. M. szulgai Isolated from a Danish patient 23. M. terrae SSI^(c) 24. E. coli SSI^(d) 25. S. aureus SSI^(d)

[0519] TABLE 11 Sequences of the mpt5l, cfp7 and cfp9 oligonucleotides. Orientation and Position^(b) oligonucleotide Sequences (5′→3′)^(a) (nucleotides) Sense MPT51-1 CTCGAATTCGCCGGGTGCACACAG (SEQ ID NO: 28)   6-21 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-3 CTCGAATTCGCCCCATACGAGAAC (SEQ ID NO: 29) 143-158 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-5 GTGTATCTGCTGGAC (SEQ ID NO: 30) 228-242 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-7 CCGACTGGCTGGCGG (SEQ ID NO: 31) 418-432 (SEQ ID NO: 41) pvR1 GTACGAGAATTCATGTCGCAAATCATG (SEQ ID NO: 35)  91-105 (SEQ ID NO: 1) pvR2 GTACGAGAATTCGAGCTTGGGGTGCCG (SEQ ID NO: 36) 168-181 (SEQ ID NO: 1) stR3 CGATTCCAAGCTTGTGGCCGCCGACCCG SEQ ID NO: 37) 141-155 (SEQ ID NO: 3) Antisense MPT51-2 GAGGAATTCGCTTAGCGGATCGCA (SEQ ID NO: 32) 946-932 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-4 CCCACATTCCGTTGG (SEQ ID NO: 33) 642-628 (SEQ ID NO: 41) MPT51-6 GTCCAGCAGATACAC (SEQ ID NO: 34) 242-228 (SEQ ID NO: 41) pvF1 CGTTAGGGATCCTCATCGCCATGGTGTTGG (SEQ ID NO: 38) 340-323 (SEQ ID NO: 1) pvF3 CGTTAGGGATCCGGTTCCACTGTGCC (SEQ ID NO: 39) 268-255 (SEQ ID NO: 1) stE1 CGTTAGGGATCCTCAGGTCTTTTCGATG (SEQ ID NO: 40) 467-452 (SEQ ID NO: 3)

[0520] The Southern blotting was carried out as described previously (Oettinger and Andersen, 1994) with the following modifications: 2 μg of genomic DNA was digested with PvuII, electrophoresed in an 0.8% agarose gel, and transferred onto a nylon membrane (Hybond N-plus; Amersham International plc, Little Chalfont, United Kingdom) with a vacuum transfer device (Milliblot, TM-v; Millipore Corp., Bedford, Mass.). The cfp7, cfp9, mpt51, rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a and rd1-orf9b gene fragments were amplified by PCR from the plasmids pRVN01, pRVN02, pTO52, pTO87, pTO88, pT089, pT090, pT091, pT096 or pTO98 by using the primers shown in TABLE 11 and TABLE 2. The probes were labelled non-radioactively with an enhanced chemiluminescence kit (ECL; Amersham International plc, Little Chalfont, United Kingdom). Hybridization and detection was performed according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. The results are summarized in TABLES 12 and 13. TABLE 12 Interspecies analysis of the cfp7, cfp9 and mpt51 genes by PCR and/or Southern blotting and of MPT51 protein by Western blotting. PCR Southern blot Western blot Species and strain cfp7 cfp9 mpt51 cfp7 cfp9 mpt51 MPT51 1. M. tub. H37Rv + + + + + + + 2. M. tub. H37Ra + + + N.D. N.D. + + 3. M. tub. Erdmann + + + + + + + 4. M. bovis + + + + + 5. M. bovis BCG Da- + + + + + + + nish 1331 6. M. bovis BCG Japan + + N.D. + + + N.D. 7. M. bovis BCG Chi- + + N.D. + + N.D. N.D. nese 8. M. bovis BCG Ca- + + N.D. + + N.D. N.D. nadian 9. M. bovis BCG Glaxo + + N.D. + + N.D. N.D. 10. M. bovis BCG Rus- + + N.D. + + N.D. N.D. sia 11. M. bovis BCG Pas- + + N.D. + + N.D. N.D. teur 12. M. africanum + + + + + + + 13. M. leprae − − − − − − − 14. M. avium + + − + + + − 15. M. kansasii + − − + + + − 16. M. marinum − (+) − + + + − 17. M. scrofulaceum − − − − − − − 18. M. intercellulare + (+) − + + + − 19. M. fortuitum − − − − − − − 20. M. flavescens + (+) − + + + N.D. 21. M. xenopi − − − N.D. N.D. + − 22. M. szulgai (+) (+) − − + − − 23. M. terrae − − N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D.

[0521] Furthermore the presence of native MPT51 in culture filtrates from different mycobacterial strains was investigated with western blots developed with Mab HBT4.

[0522] There is a strong band at around 26 kDa in M. tuberculosis H37Rv, Ra, Erdman, M. bovis AN5, M. bovis BCG substrain Danish 1331 and M. africanum. No band was seen in the region in any other tested mycobacterial strains. TABLE 13a Interspecies analysis of the rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1- orf9a and rd1-orf9b genes by Southern blotting. Species and strain rd1-orf2 rd1-orf3 rd1-orf4 rd1-orf5 rd1-orf8 rd1-orf9a rd1-orf9b  1. M. tub. H37Rv + + + + + + +  2. M. bovis + + + + N.D. + +  3. M. bovis BCG + − − − N.D. − − Danish 1331  4. M. bovis + − − − N.D. − − BCG Japan  5. M. avium − − − − N.D. − −  6. M. kansasii − − − − N.D. − −  7. M. marinum + − + − N.D. − −  8. M. scrofu- + − − − N.D. − − laceum  9. M. intercellu- − − − − N.D. − − lare 10. M. fortuitum − − − − N.D. − − 11. M. xenopi − − − − N.D. − − 12. M. szulgai + − − − N.D. − −

[0523] Positive results for rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a and rd1-orf9b were only obtained when using genomic DNA from M. tuberculosis and M. bovis, and not from M. bovis BCG or other mycobacteria analyzed except rd1-orf4 which also was found in M. marinum.

[0524] Presence of cfp7a, cfp7b, cfp10a, cfp17, cfp20, cfp21, cfp22, cfp22a, cfp23, cfp25 and cpf25a in Different Mycobacterial Species.

[0525] Southern blotting was carried out as described for rd1-orf2, rd1-orf3, rd1-orf4, rd1-orf5, rd1-orf8, rd1-orf9a and rd1-orf9b. The cfp7a, cfp7b, cfp10a, cfpl17, cfp20, cfp21, cfp22, cfp22a, cfp23, cfp25 and cfp25a gene fragments were amplified by PCR from the recombinant pMCT6 plasmids encoding the individual genes. The primers used (same as the primers used for cloning) are described in example 3, 3A and 3B. The results are summarized in Table 13b. TABLE 13b Interspecies analysis of the cfp7a, cfp7b, cfp10a, cfp17, cfp20, cfp21, cfp22, cfp22a, cfp23, cfp25, and cfp25a genes by Southern blotting. Species and strain cfp7a cfp7b cfp10a cfp17 cfp20 cfp21 cfp22 cfp22a cfp23 cfp25 cfp25a  1. M. tub. + + + + + + + + + + + H37Rv  2. M. bovis + + + + + + + + + + +  3. M. bovis BCG + + + + + N.D. + + + + + Danish 1331  4. M. bovis + + + + + + + + + + + BCG Japan  5. M. avium + N.D. − + − + + + + + −  6. M. kansasii − N.D. + − − − + − + − −  7. M. marinum + + − + + + + + + + +  8. M. scrofulaceum − − + − + + − + + + −  9. M. intercellulare + + − + − + + − + + − 10. M. fortuitum − N.D. − − − − − − + − − 11. M. xenopi + + + + + + + + + + + 12. M. szulgai + + − + + + + + + + +

Example 13

[0526] Identification of the Immunogenic Portions of the Three Antigenic Molecules TB10.3 (Rv3019c), TB10.4 (Rv0288) and TB12.9 (Rv3017c).

[0527] The three immunologically active proteins, of which we are here identifying the immunogenic portions, were previously identified by the screening of a genomic library (TB10.4,—previously named CFP7) and due to homology to TB10.4 (TB10.3 and TB12.9) (WO98/44119, WO99/24577 and Skjøt et al, 2000). However, the immunogenic portions of these proteins have not previously been defined.

[0528] Synthetic overlapping peptides covering the complete amino acid sequence of the three proteins (FIGS. 13, 14 and 15) were synthesized either by standard solid-phase methods on an ABIMED peptide synthesizier (ABIMED, Langenfeld, Germany) at Dept. of infectious diseases and Immunohematology/Bloodbank C5-P, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands (TB10.4) or at Schafer-N, Copenhagen, Denmark on polyamide resins using Fmoc-strategy and purified by reverse phase HPLC on C18-columns in water/acetonitrile gradients containing 0.1% TFA (trifluoracetic acid) (TB10.3 and TB12.9). Purified peptides were lyophilized and stored dry until reconstitution in PBS.

[0529] The peptide sequences are as follows;

[0530] TB10.3:

[0531] TB10.3-P1 MSQIMYNYPAMMAHAGDMAG

[0532] TB10.3-P2 MMAHAGDMAGYAGTLQSLGA

[0533] TB10.3-P3 YAGTLQSLGADIASEQAVLS

[0534] TB10.3-P4 DIASEQAVLSSAWQGDTGIT

[0535] TB10.3-P5 SAWQGDTGITYQGWQTQWNQ

[0536] TB10.3-P6 YQGWQTQWNQALEDLVRAYQ

[0537] TB10.3-P7 ALEDLVRAYQSMSGTHESNT

[0538] TB10.3-P8 SMSGTHESNTMAMLARDGAE

[0539] TB10.3-P9 MAMLARDGAEAAKWGG

[0540] TB10.4:

[0541] TB10.4-P1 MSQIMYNYPAMLGHAGDM

[0542] TB10.4-P2 MLGHAGDMAGYAGTLQSL

[0543] TB10.4-P3 YAGTLOSLGAEIAVEQAA

[0544] TB10.4-P4 EIAVEQAALQSAWQGDTG

[0545] TB10.4-P5 SAWQGDTGITYQAWQAQW

[0546] TB10.4-P6 YQAWQAQWNQAMEDLVRA

[0547] TB10.4-P7 AMEDLVRAYHAMSSTHEA

[0548] TB10.4-P8 AMSSTHEANTMAMMARDT

[0549] TB10.4-P9 MAMMARDTAEAAKWGG

[0550] TB12.9:

[0551] TB12.9-P1 MSQSMYSYPAMTANVGDMAG

[0552] TB12.9-P2 MTANVGDMAGYTGTTQSLGA

[0553] TB12.9-P3 YTGTTQSLGADIASERTAPS

[0554] TB12.9-P4 DIASERTAPSRACQGDLGMS

[0555] TB12.9-P5 RACQGDLGMSHQDWQAQWNQ

[0556] TB12.9-P6 HQDWQAQWNQAMEALARAYR

[0557] TB12.9-P7 AMEALARAYRRCRRALRQIG

[0558] TB12.9-P8 RCRRALRQIGVLERPVGDSS

[0559] TB12.9-P9 VLERPVGDSSDCGTIRVGSF

[0560] TB12.9-P10 DCGTIRVGSFRGRWLDPRHA

[0561] TB12.9-P11 RGRWLDPRHAGPATAADAGD

[0562] Peptides are encoded by the following DNA sequences:

[0563] tb10.3:

[0564] tb10.3-P1 atg tcg cag att atg tac aac tat ccg gcg atg atg gct cat gcc ggg gac atg gcc ggt

[0565] tb10.3-P2 atg atg gct cat gcc ggg gac atg gcc ggt tat gcg ggc acg ctg cag agc ttg ggg gcc

[0566] tb10.3-P3 tat gcg ggc acg ctg cag agc ttg ggg gcc gat atc gcc agt gag cag gcc gtg ctg tcc

[0567] tb10.3-P4 gat atc gcc agt gag cag gcc gtg ctg tcc agt gct tgg cag ggt gat acc ggg atc acg

[0568] tb10.3-P5 agt gct tgg cag ggt gat acc ggg atc acg tat cag ggc tgg cag acc cag tgg aac cag

[0569] tb10.3-P6 tat cag ggc tgg cag acc cag tgg aac cag gcc cta gag gat ctg gtg cgg gcc tat cag

[0570] tb10.3-P7 gcc cta gag gat ctg gtg cgg gcc tat cag tcg atg tct ggc acc cat gag tcc aac acc

[0571] tb10.3-P8 tcg atg tct ggc acc cat gag tcc aac acc atg gcg atg ttg gct cga gat ggg gcc gaa

[0572] tb10.3-P9 atg gcg atg ttg gct cga gat ggg gcc gaa gcc gcc aag tgg ggc ggc

[0573] tb10.4:

[0574] TB10.4-P1 atg tcg caa atc atg tac aac tac ccc gcg atg ttg ggt cac gcc ggg gat atg

[0575] TB10.4-P2 atg ttg ggt cac gcc ggg gat atg gcc gga tat gcc ggc acg ctg cag agc ttg

[0576] TB10.4-P3 tat gcc ggc acg ctg cag agc ttg ggt gcc gag atc gcc gtg gag cag gcc gcg

[0577] TB10.4-P4 gag atc gcc gtg gag cag gcc gcg ttg cag agt gcg tgg cag ggc gat acc ggg

[0578] TB10.4-P5 agt gcg tgg cag ggc gat acc ggg atc acg tat cag gcg tgg cag gca cag tgg

[0579] TB10.4-P6 tat cag gcg tgg cag gca cag tgg aac cag gcc atg gaa gat ttg gtg cgg

[0580] TB10.4-P7 gcc atg gaa gat ttg gtg cgg gcc tat cat gcg atg tcc agc acc cat gaa gcc

[0581] TB10.4-P8 gcg atg tcc agc acc cat gaa gcc aac acc atg atg atg atg gcc cgc gac acg

[0582] TB10.4-P9 atg gcg atg atg gcc cgc gac acc gcc gaa gcc gcc aaa tgg ggc ggc

[0583] tb12.9:

[0584] tb12.9-P1 gtg tcg cag agt atg tac agc tac ccg gcg atg acg gcc aat gtc gga gac atg gcc ggt

[0585] tb12.9-P2 atg acg gcc aat gtc gga gac atg gcc ggt tat acg ggc acg acg cag agc ttg ggg gcc

[0586] tb12.9-P3 tat acg ggc acg acg cag agc ttg ggg gcc gat atc gcc agt gag cgc acc gcg ccg tcg

[0587] tb12.9-P4 gat atc gcc agt gag cgc acc gcg ccg tcg cgt gct tgc caa ggt gat ctc ggg atg agt

[0588] tb12.9-P5 cgt gct tgc caa ggt gat ctc ggg atg agt cat cag gac tgg cag gcc cag tgg aat cag

[0589] tb12.9-P6 cat cag gac tgg cag gcc cag tgg aat cag gcc atg gag get ctc gcg cgg gcc tac cgt

[0590] tb12.9-P7 gcc atg gag gct ctc gcg cgg gcc tac cgt cgg tgc cgg cga gca cta cgc cag atc ggg

[0591] tb12.9-P8 cgg tgc cgg cga gca cta cgc cag atc ggg gtg ctg gaa agg ccg gta ggc gat tcg tca

[0592] tb12.9-P9 gtg ctg gaa agg ccg gta ggc gat tcg tca gao tgc gga acg att agg gtg ggg tcg ttc

[0593] tb12.9-P10 gac tgc gga acg att agg gtg ggg ttc cgg ggt cgg tgg ctg gac ccg cgc cat gcg

[0594] tb12.9-P11 cgg ggt cgg tgg ctg gac ccg cgc cat gcg ggt cca gcc acg gcc gcc gac gcc gga gac

[0595] In tb12.9-P1, the start codon is indicated to be gtg, and the first amino acid in TB 12.9-P1 is indicated to be methionin. However, it is supposed that the first amino acid in TB 12.9 can be either methionin or valin. The invention therefore encompasses TB12.9-P1 and TB12.9 polypeptide sequences with amino acid sequences as indicated in this description and drawing, and sequences in which the first amino acid is replaced with valin. Accordingly, the invention encompasses tb12.9-P1 and tb12.9 DNA sequences as indicated in this description and drawing, and DNA sequences in which the gtg start codon is replaced with an atg start codon.

Example 14

[0596] Biological Activity of the Synthetic Peptides.

[0597] The above listed synthetic peptides, covering the protein sequences of TB10.3, TB10.4 and TB12.9, were screened for their ability to induce a T cell response measured as IFN-γ release. The screening involved testing of the IFN-γ induction in PBMC preparations obtained from TB patients and PPD positive donors.

[0598] Human donors: PBMC were obtained from healthy donors with a positive in vitro response to purified protein derivative (PPD) or non-vaccinated healthy donors with a negative in vitro response to PPD. PBMC were also obtained from TB patients with microscopy or culture proven infection. Blood samples were drawn from TB patients 0-6 months after diagnosis.

[0599] Lymphocyte preparations and cell culture: PBMC were freshly isolated by gradient centrifugation of heparinized blood on Lymphoprep (Nycomed, Oslo, Norway) and stored in liquid nitrogen until use. The cells were resuspended in complete RPMI 1640 medium (Gibco BRL, Life Technologies) supplemented with 1% penicillin/streptomycin (Gibco BRL, Life Technologies), 1% non-essential-amino acids (FLOW, ICN Biomedicals, CA, USA), and 10% heat-inactivated normal human AB serum (NHS). The viability and number of the cells were determined by Nigrosin staining. Cell cultures were established with 1.25×10⁵ PBMCs in 100 μl in microtitre plates (Nunc, Roskilde, Denmark) and stimulated with 5 μg/ml PPD or single peptides in final concentrations of 10, 5 and 0.5 μg/ml or peptide pools corresponding to the full length proteins in which each peptide was included in concentrations of 0.5, 0.1 and 0.05 μg/ml (Table 1). “No antigen” was included as negative control and phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) was used as positive control. Moreover the response to the highly responsive recombinant TB10.4 was included for comparison. Supernatants for the analysis of secreted cytokines were harvested after 5 days of culture, pooled, and stored at −80° C. until use.

[0600] Cytokine Analysis:

[0601] In table 14 the maximal IFN-γ response of each peptide is shown. A response of >75 pg IFN-γ/ml (>background plus two standard deviations) is regarded positive (indicated in bold). In PPD negative healthy donors, the IFN-γ response to the peptides was at the same level as the buffer control (results not shown). As shown in Table 14 the peptides TB10.3-P1, TB10.3-P2, TB10.3-P3, TB10.3-P4, TB10.3-P5, TB10.3-P6, TB10.3-P7, TB10.3-P8, TB10.3-P9, TB10.4-P1, TB10.4-P2, TB10.4-P3, TB10.4-P4, TB10.4-P5, TB10.4-P6, TB10.4-P7, TB10.4-P8, TB10.4-P9, TB12.9-P1, TB12.9-P2, TB12.9-P4, TB12.9-P5, TB12.9-P6, TB12.9-P7, TB12.9-P8, TB12.9-P9, TB12.9-P10 and TB12.9-P11 result in positive responses. As is expected, due to the genetical heterogeneity of the human population, some of the peptides are however recognized more frequently and to a higher extent than others. The immunodominant peptides in the 8 donors tested herein are the peptides TB10.3-P1, TB10.4-P1, TB10.4-P3, TB10.4-P5, TB10.4-P6, and TB10.4-P9 which all give rise to IFN-γ responses >1000 pg/ml in at least one of the 8 donors tested herein. Of these peptides TB10.4-p1 and TB10.4-p3 give rise to responses at the level of the full protein in several donors and two donors (C and D in table 14) respond to TB10.4-p1 at a level comparable to PPD. Other peptides that are highly responsive are TB10.3-P3, TB10.3-P6, TB10.3-P8, TB10.4-P4, TB12.9-P1, TB12.9-P8, TB12.9-P9, and TB12.9-P11 which give rise to IFN-γ responses >450 pg/ml (<1000 pg/ml) in at least one of the 8 donors tested herein. The peptides; TB10.3-P2, TB10.3-P9, TB12.9-P2, TB12.9-P4 and TB12.9-P10 induce lower but still highly significant levels of IFN-γ>250 pg/ml (<450 pg/ml) in at least one of the 8 donors tested herein. The surprisingly broad recognition pattern indicates the presence of multiple immunogenic portions scattered through out the protein sequences of TB10.3, TB10.4 and TB12.9. This makes these peptides attractive candidates for a TB vaccine or a therapeutic vaccine. TABLE 14 Stimulation of PBMCs from 4 TB patients and 4 PPD positive healthy donors with synthetic peptides. Responses to PHA, PPD, no antigen and to rTB10.4 are shown for comparison. Results are given in pg IFN-γ/ml. TB10.4 p1-9, TB10.3 p1-9, TB12.9 p1-9 indicate peptide pools. Results indicated in bold are regarded positive. Peptide/ TB patients PPD + healthy donors Antigen 1 2 3 4 A B C D No antigen 7 0 21 3 5 3 0 0 PHA 16493 12187 13217 13458 14941 13051 10801 9112 PPD 5579 10164 8746 6697 16797 8963 6768 828 rTB10.4 63 1766 610 3354 3295 2688 4296 1708 TB10.4 p1 48 550 648 421 0 2149 7120 1007 TB10.4 p2 132 125 103 113 51 2 3 0 TB10.4 p3 306 1207 7 98 3121 7 0 638 TB10.4 p4 248 7 102 226 79 5 0 593 TB10.4 p5 136 0 0 1377 57 837 0 0 TB10.4 p6 36 0 2183 180 24 13 0 0 TB10.4 p7 74 27 0 164 184 5 0 0 TB10.4 p8 67 27 117 46 128 7 0 0 TB10.4 p9 14 0 1 1034 59 91 13 0 TB10.4 p1-9 685 4495 3056 1435 2029 2981 3424 605 TB12.9 p1 16 0 224 486 117 0 0 0 TB12.9 p2 121 0 50 278 125 11 0 0 TB12.9 p3 14 1 33 48 16 21 0 0 TB12.9 p4 225 21 269 149 14 7 0 0 TB12.9 p5 0 91 95 119 32 4 0 0 TB12.9 p6 0 0 78 45 20 49 0 44 TB12.9 p7 64 1 61 63 99 0 15 TB12.9 p8 0 95 0 977 19 966 40 125 TB12.9 p9 0 0 505 67 15 2 0 29 TB12.9 p10 54 0 206 369 17 1 0 6 TB12.9 p11 54 0 118 484 13 0 0 9 TB12.9 p1-11 256 0 0 204 11 217 0 13 TB10.3 p1 88 449 30 76 196 1358 706 122 TB10.3 p2 99 214 341 172 48 387 20 13 TB10.3 p3 3 408 204 460 275 3 0 21 TB10.3 p4 0 41 66 50 210 0 0 26 TB10.3 p5 0 30 185 215 184 11 0 0 TB10.3 p6 0 138 465 21 22 5 0 2 TB10.3 p7 11 143 160 30 37 27 0 9 TB10.3 p8 744 3 4 92 15 663 19 0 TB10.3 p9 341 0 6 11 66 0 2 0 TB10.3 p1-9 0 187 193 3 8 903 262 6

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1 257 1 381 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 1 ggccgccggt acctatgtgg ccgccgatgc tgcggacgcg tcgacctata ccgggttctg 60 atcgaaccct gctgaccgag aggacttgtg atgtcgcaaa tcatgtacaa ctaccccgcg 120 atgttgggtc acgccgggga tatggccgga tatgccggca cgctgcagag cttgggtgcc 180 gagatcgccg tggagcaggc cgcgttgcag agtgcgtggc agggcgatac cgggatcacg 240 tatcaggcgt ggcaggcaca gtggaaccag gccatggaag atttggtgcg ggcctatcat 300 gcgatgtcca gcacccatga agccaacacc atggcgatga tggcccgcga caccgccgaa 360 gccgccaaat ggggcggcta g 381 2 96 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 2 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Leu Gly His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Glu Ile 20 25 30 Ala Val Glu Gln Ala Ala Leu Gln Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly 35 40 45 Ile Thr Tyr Gln Ala Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Asp 50 55 60 Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr His Ala Met Ser Ser Thr His Glu Ala Asn Thr 65 70 75 80 Met Ala Met Met Ala Arg Asp Thr Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 85 90 95 3 467 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 3 gggtagccgg accacggctg ggcaaagatg tgcaggccgc catcaaggcg gtcaaggccg 60 gcgacggcgt cataaacccg gacggcacct tgttggcggg ccccgcggtg ctgacgcccg 120 acgagtacaa ctcccggctg gtggccgccg acccggagtc caccgcggcg ttgcccgacg 180 gcgccgggct ggtcgttctg gatggcaccg tcactgccga actcgaagcc gagggctggg 240 ccaaagatcg catccgcgaa ctgcaagagc tgcgtaagtc gaccgggctg gacgtttccg 300 accgcatccg ggtggtgatg tcggtgcctg cggaacgcga agactgggcg cgcacccatc 360 gcgacctcat tgccggagaa atcttggcta ccgacttcga attcgccgac ctcgccgatg 420 gtgtggccat cggcgacggc gtgcgggtaa gcatcgaaaa gacctga 467 4 108 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 4 Met Ala Ala Asp Pro Glu Ser Thr Ala Ala Leu Pro Asp Gly Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 Leu Val Val Leu Asp Gly Thr Val Thr Ala Glu Leu Glu Ala Glu Gly 20 25 30 Trp Ala Lys Asp Arg Ile Arg Glu Leu Gln Glu Leu Arg Lys Ser Thr 35 40 45 Gly Leu Asp Val Ser Asp Arg Ile Arg Val Val Met Ser Val Pro Ala 50 55 60 Glu Arg Glu Asp Trp Ala Arg Thr His Arg Asp Leu Ile Ala Gly Glu 65 70 75 80 Ile Leu Ala Thr Asp Phe Glu Phe Ala Asp Leu Ala Asp Gly Val Ala 85 90 95 Ile Gly Asp Gly Val Arg Val Ser Ile Glu Lys Thr 100 105 5 889 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 5 cgggtctgca cggatccggg ccgggcaggg caatcgagcc tgggatccgc tggggtgcgc 60 acatcgcgga cccgtgcgcg gtacggtcga gacagcggca cgagaaagta gtaagggcga 120 taataggcgg taaagagtag cgggaagccg gccgaacgac tcggtcagac aacgccacag 180 cggccagtga ggagcagcgg gtgacggaca tgaacccgga tattgagaag gaccagacct 240 ccgatgaagt cacggtagag acgacctccg tcttccgcgc agacttcctc agcgagctgg 300 acgctcctgc gcaagcgggt acggagagcg cggtctccgg ggtggaaggg ctcccgccgg 360 gctcggcgtt gctggtagtc aaacgaggcc ccaacgccgg gtcccggttc ctactcgacc 420 aagccatcac gtcggctggt cggcatcccg acagcgacat atttctcgac gacgtgaccg 480 tgagccgtcg ccatgctgaa ttccggttgg aaaacaacga attcaatgtc gtcgatgtcg 540 ggagtctcaa cggcacctac gtcaaccgcg agcccgtgga ttcggcggtg ctggcgaacg 600 gcgacgaggt ccagatcggc aagttccggt tggtgttctt gaccggaccc aagcaaggcg 660 aggatgacgg gagtaccggg ggcccgtgag cgcacccgat agccccgcgc tggccgggat 720 gtcgatcggg gcggtcctcg acctgctacg accggatttt cctgatgtca ccatctccaa 780 gattcgattc ttggaggctg agggtctggt gacgccccgg cgggcctcat cggggtatcg 840 gcggttcacc gcatacgact gcgcacggct gcgattcatt ctcactgcc 889 6 162 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 6 Met Thr Asp Met Asn Pro Asp Ile Gly Leu Asp Gln Thr Ser Asp Glu 1 5 10 15 Val Thr Val Glu Thr Thr Ser Val Phe Arg Ala Asp Phe Leu Ser Glu 20 25 30 Leu Asp Ala Pro Ala Gln Ala Gly Thr Glu Ser Ala Val Ser Gly Val 35 40 45 Glu Gly Leu Pro Pro Gly Ser Ala Leu Leu Val Val Leu Arg Gly Pro 50 55 60 Asn Ala Gly Ser Arg Pro Leu Leu Asp Gln Ala Ile Thr Ser Ala Gly 65 70 75 80 Arg His Pro Asp Ser Asp Ile Pro Leu Asp Asp Val Thr Val Ser Arg 85 90 95 Arg His Ala Glu Phe Arg Leu Glu Asn Asn Glu Phe Asn Val Val Asp 100 105 110 Val Gly Ser Leu Asn Gly Thr Thr Val Asn Arg Glu Pro Val Asp Ser 115 120 125 Ala Val Leu Ala Asn Gly Asp Glu Val Gln Ile Gly Lys Phe Arg Leu 130 135 140 Val Phe Leu Thr Gly Pro Leu Gln Gly Glu Asp Asp Gly Ser Thr Gly 145 150 155 160 Gly Pro 7 898 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 7 tcgactccgg cgccaccggg caggatcacg gtgtcgacgg ggtcgccggg gaatcccacg 60 ataaccactc ttcgcgccat gaatgccagt gttggccagg cgctggcctg gcgtccacgc 120 cacacaccgc acagattagg acacgccggc ggcgcagccc tgcccgaaag accgtgcacc 180 ggtcttggca gactgtgccc atggcacaga taaccctgcg aggaaacgcg atcaataccg 240 tcggtgagct acctgctgtc ggatccccgg ccccggcctt caccctgacc gggggcgatc 300 tgggggtgat cagcagcgac cagttccggg gtaagtccgt gttgctgaac atctttccat 360 ccgtggacac accggtgtgc gcgacgagtg tgcgaacctt cgacgagcgt gcggcggcaa 420 gtggcgctac cgtgctgtgt gtctcgaagg atctgccgtt cgcccagaag cgcttctgcg 480 gcgccgaggg caccgaaaac gtcatgcccg cgtcggcatt ccgggacagc ttcggcgagg 540 attacggcgt gaccatcgcc gacgggccga tggccgggct gctcgcccgc gcaatcgtgg 600 tgatcggcgc ggacggcaac gtcgcctaca cggaattggt gccggaaatc gcgcaagaac 660 ccaactacga agcggcgctg gccgcgctgg gcgcctaggc tttcacaagc cccgcgcgtt 720 cggcgagcag cgcacgattt cgagcgctgc tcccgaaaag cgcctcggtg gtcttggccc 780 ggcggtaata caggtgcagg tcgtgctccc acgtgaaggc gatggcaccg tggatctgaa 840 gagcggagcc ggcgcataac acaaaggttt ccgcggtctg cgccttcgcc agcggcgc 898 8 165 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 8 Met Ala Gln Ile Thr Leu Arg Gly Asn Ala Ile Asn Thr Val Gly Glu 1 5 10 15 Leu Pro Ala Val Gly Ser Pro Ala Pro Ala Phe Thr Leu Thr Gly Gly 20 25 30 Asp Leu Gly Val Ile Ser Ser Asp Gln Phe Arg Gly Lys Ser Val Leu 35 40 45 Leu Asn Ile Phe Pro Ser Val Asp Thr Pro Val Cys Ala Thr Ser Val 50 55 60 Arg Thr Phe Asp Glu Arg Ala Ala Ala Ser Gly Ser Thr Val Leu Cys 65 70 75 80 Val Ser Leu Asp Leu Pro Phe Ala Gln Lys Arg Phe Cys Gly Ala Glu 85 90 95 Gly Thr Glu Asn Val Met Pro Ala Ser Ala Phe Arg Asp Ser Phe Gly 100 105 110 Glu Asp Tyr Gly Val Thr Ile Ala Asp Gly Pro Met Ala Gly Leu Leu 115 120 125 Ala Arg Ala Ile Val Val Ile Gly Ala Asp Gly Asn Val Ala Tyr Thr 130 135 140 Glu Leu Val Pro Glu Ile Ala Gln Glu Pro Asn Tyr Glu Ala Ala Leu 145 150 155 160 Ala Ala Leu Gly Ala 165 9 1054 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 9 ataatcagct caccgttggg accgacctcg accaggggtc ctttgtgact gccgggcttg 60 acgcggacga ccacagagtc ggtcatcgcc taaggctacc gttctgacct ggggctgcgt 120 gggcgccgac gacgtgaggc acgtcatgtc tcagcggccc accgccacct cggtcgccgg 180 cagtatgtca gcatgtgcag atgactccac gcagccttgt tcgcatcgtt ggtgtcgtgg 240 ttgcgacgac cttggcgctg gtgagcgcac ccgccggcgg tcgtgccgcg catgcggatc 300 cgtgttcgga catcgcggtc gttttcgctc gcggcacgca tcaggcttct ggtcttggcg 360 acgtcggtga ggcgttcgtc gactcgctta cctcgcaagt tggcgggcgg tcgattgggg 420 tctacgcggt gaactaccca gcaagcgacg actaccgcgc gagcgcgtca aacggttccg 480 atgatgcgag cgcccacatc cagcgcaccg tcgccagctg cccgaacacc aggattgtgc 540 ttggtggcta ttcgcagggt gcgacggtca tcgatttgtc cacctcggcg atgccgcccg 600 cggtggcaga tcatgtcgcc gctgtcgccc ttttcggcga gccatccagt ggtttctcca 660 gcatgttgtg gggcggcggg tcgttgccga caatcggtcc gctgtatagc tctaagacca 720 taaacttgtg tgctcccgac gatccaatat gcaccggagg cggcaatatt atggcgcatg 780 tttcgtatgt tcagtcgggg atgacaagcc aggcggcgac attcgcggcg aacaggctcg 840 atcacgccgg atgatcaaag actgttgtcc ctataccgct ggggctgtag tcgatgtaca 900 ccggctggaa tctgaagggc aagaacccgg tattcatcag gccggatgaa atgacggtcg 960 ggcggtaatc gtttgtgttg aacgcgtaga gccgatcacc gccggggctg gtgtagacct 1020 caatgtttgt gttcgccggc agggttccgg atcc 1054 10 217 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 10 Met Thr Pro Arg Ser Leu Val Arg Ile Val Gly Val Val Val Ala Thr 1 5 10 15 Thr Leu Ala Leu Val Ser Ala Pro Ala Gly Gly Arg Ala Ala His Ala 20 25 30 Asp Pro Cys Ser Asp Ile Ala Val Val Phe Ala Arg Gly Thr His Gln 35 40 45 Ala Ser Gly Leu Gly Asp Val Gly Glu Ala Phe Val Asp Ser Leu Thr 50 55 60 Ser Gln Val Gly Gly Arg Ser Ile Gly Val Tyr Ala Val Asn Tyr Pro 65 70 75 80 Ala Ser Asp Asp Tyr Arg Ala Ser Ala Ser Asn Gly Ser Asp Asp Ala 85 90 95 Ser Ala His Ile Gln Arg Thr Val Ala Ser Cys Pro Asn Thr Arg Ile 100 105 110 Val Leu Gly Gly Tyr Ser Gln Gly Ala Thr Val Ile Asp Leu Ser Thr 115 120 125 Ser Ala Met Pro Pro Ala Val Ala Asp His Val Ala Ala Val Ala Leu 130 135 140 Phe Gly Glu Pro Ser Ser Gly Phe Ser Ser Met Leu Trp Gly Gly Gly 145 150 155 160 Ser Leu Pro Thr Ile Gly Pro Leu Tyr Ser Ser Lys Thr Ile Asn Leu 165 170 175 Cys Ala Pro Asp Asp Pro Ile Cys Thr Gly Gly Gly Asn Ile Met Ala 180 185 190 His Val Ser Tyr Val Gln Ser Gly Met Thr Ser Gln Ala Ala Thr Phe 195 200 205 Ala Ala Asn Arg Leu Asp His Ala Gly 210 215 11 949 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 11 agccgctcgc gtggggtcaa ccgggtttcc acctgctcac tcattttgcc gcctttctgt 60 gtccgggccg aggcttgcgc tcaataactc ggtcaagttc cttcacagac tgccatcact 120 ggcccgtcgg cgggctcgtt gcgggtgcgc cgcgtgcggg tttgtgttcc gggcaccggg 180 tgggggcccg cccgggcgta atggcagact gtgattccgt gactaacagc ccccttgcga 240 ccgctaccgc cacgctgcac actaaccgcg gcgacatcaa gatcgccctg ttcggaaacc 300 atgcgcccaa gaccgtcgcc aattttgtgg gccttgcgca gggcaccaag gactattcga 360 cccaaaacgc atcaggtggc ccgtccggcc cgttctacga cggcgcggtc tttcaccggg 420 tgatccaggg cttcatgatc cagggtggcg atccaaccgg gacgggtcgc ggcggacccg 480 gctacaagtt cgccgacgag ttccaccccg agctgcaatt cgacaagccc tatctgctcg 540 cgatggccaa cgccggtccg ggcaccaacg gctcacagtt tttcatcacc gtcggcaaga 600 ctccgcacct gaaccggcgc cacaccattt tcggtgaagt gatcgacgcg gagtcacagc 660 gggttgtgga ggcgatctcc aagacggcca ccgacggcaa cgatcggccg acggacccgg 720 tggtgatcga gtcgatcacc atctcctgac ccgaagctac gtcggctcgt cgctcgaata 780 caccttgtgg acccgccagg gcacgtggcg gtacaccgac acgccgttgg ggccgttcaa 840 ccggacgccc tcacgccaag tccgctcacc tttggccgcg accggcgtaa ccggcagcgg 900 taagcgcatc gagcacctcc actgggtcgg tgccgagatc ccagcggga 949 12 182 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 12 Met Ala Asp Cys Asp Ser Val Thr Asn Ser Pro Leu Ala Thr Ala Thr 1 5 10 15 Ala Thr Leu His Thr Asn Arg Gly Asp Ile Lys Ile Ala Leu Phe Gly 20 25 30 Asn His Ala Pro Lys Thr Val Ala Asn Phe Val Gly Leu Ala Gln Gly 35 40 45 Thr Lys Asp Tyr Ser Thr Gln Asn Ala Ser Gly Gly Pro Ser Gly Pro 50 55 60 Phe Tyr Asp Gly Ala Val Phe His Arg Val Ile Gln Gly Phe Met Ile 65 70 75 80 Gln Gly Gly Asp Pro Thr Gly Thr Gly Arg Gly Gly Pro Gly Tyr Lys 85 90 95 Phe Ala Asp Glu Phe His Pro Glu Leu Gln Phe Asp Lys Pro Tyr Leu 100 105 110 Leu Ala Met Ala Asn Ala Gly Pro Gly Thr Asn Gly Ser Gln Phe Phe 115 120 125 Ile Thr Val Gly Lys Thr Pro His Leu Asn Arg Arg His Thr Ile Phe 130 135 140 Gly Glu Val Ile Asp Ala Glu Ser Gln Arg Val Val Glu Ala Ile Ser 145 150 155 160 Lys Thr Ala Thr Asp Gly Asn Asp Arg Pro Thr Asp Pro Val Val Ile 165 170 175 Glu Ser Ile Thr Ile Ser 180 13 1060 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 13 tggaccttca ccggcggtcc cttcgcttcg ggggcgacac ctaacatact ggtcgtcaac 60 ctaccgcgac accgctggga ctttgtgcca ttgccggcca ctcggggccg ctgcggcctg 120 gaaaaattgg tcgggcacgg gcggccgcgg gtcgctacca tcccactgtg aatgatttac 180 tgacccgccg actgctcacc atgggcgcgg ccgccgcaat gctggccgcg gtgcttctgc 240 ttactcccat caccgttccc gccggctacc ccggtgccgt tgcaccggcc actgcagcct 300 gccccgacgc cgaagtggtg ttcgcccgcg gccgcttcga accgcccggg attggcacgg 360 tcggcaacgc attcgtcagc gcgctgcgct cgaaggtcaa caagaatgtc ggggtctacg 420 cggtgaaata ccccgccgac aatcagatcg atgtgggcgc caacgacatg agcgcccaca 480 ttcagagcat ggccaacagc tgtccgaata cccgcctggt gcccggcggt tactcgctgg 540 gcgcggccgt caccgacgtg gtactcgcgg tgcccaccca gatgtggggc ttcaccaatc 600 ccctgcctcc cggcagtgat gagcacatcg ccgcggtcgc gctgttcggc aatggcagtc 660 agtgggtcgg ccccatcacc aacttcagcc ccgcctacaa cgatcggacc atcgagttgt 720 gtcacggcga cgaccccgtc tgccaccctg ccgaccccaa cacctgggag gccaactggc 780 cccagcacct cgccggggcc tatgtctcgt cgggcatggt caaccaggcg gctgacttcg 840 ttgccggaaa gctgcaatag ccacctagcc cgtgcgcgag tctttgcttc acgctttcgc 900 taaccgacca acgcgcgcac gatggagggg tccgtggtca tatcaagaca agaagggagt 960 aggcgatgca cgcaaaagtc ggcgactacc tcgtggtgaa gggcacaacc acggaacggc 1020 atgatcaaca tgctgagatc atcgaggtgc gctccgcaga 1060 14 219 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 14 Met Gly Ala Ala Ala Ala Met Leu Ala Ala Val Leu Leu Leu Thr Pro 1 5 10 15 Ile Thr Val Pro Ala Gly Tyr Pro Gly Ala Val Ala Pro Ala Thr Ala 20 25 30 Ala Cys Pro Asp Ala Glu Val Val Phe Ala Arg Gly Arg Phe Glu Pro 35 40 45 Pro Gly Ile Gly Thr Val Gly Asn Ala Phe Val Ser Ala Leu Arg Ser 50 55 60 Lys Val Asn Lys Asn Val Gly Val Tyr Ala Val Lys Tyr Pro Ala Asp 65 70 75 80 Asn Gln Ile Asp Val Gly Ala Asn Asp Met Ser Ala His Ile Gln Ser 85 90 95 Met Ala Asn Ser Cys Pro Asn Thr Arg Leu Val Pro Gly Gly Tyr Ser 100 105 110 Leu Gly Ala Ala Val Thr Asp Val Val Leu Ala Val Pro Thr Gln Met 115 120 125 Trp Gly Phe Thr Asn Pro Leu Pro Pro Gly Ser Asp Glu His Ile Ala 130 135 140 Ala Val Ala Leu Phe Gly Asn Gly Ser Gln Trp Val Gly Pro Ile Thr 145 150 155 160 Asn Phe Ser Pro Ala Tyr Asn Asp Arg Thr Ile Glu Leu Cys His Gly 165 170 175 Asp Asp Pro Val Cys His Pro Ala Asp Pro Asn Thr Trp Glu Ala Asn 180 185 190 Trp Pro Gln His Leu Ala Gly Ala Tyr Val Ser Ser Gly Met Val Asn 195 200 205 Gln Ala Ala Asp Phe Val Ala Gly Lys Leu Gln 210 215 15 1198 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 15 cagatgctgc gcaacatgtt tctcggcgat ccggcaggca acaccgatcg agtgcttgac 60 ttttccaccg cggtgaccgg cggactgttc ttctcaccca ccatcgactt tctcgaccat 120 ccaccgcccc taccgcaggc ggcgacgcca actctggcag ccgggtcgct atcgatcggc 180 agcttgaaag gaagcccccg atgaacaatc tctaccgcga tttggcaccg gtcaccgaag 240 ccgcttgggc ggaaatcgaa ttggaggcgg cgcggacgtt caagcgacac atcgccgggc 300 gccgggtggt cgatgtcagt gatcccgggg ggcccgtcac cgcggcggtc agcaccggcc 360 ggctgatcga tgttaaggca ccaaccaacg gcgtgatcgc ccacctgcgg gccagcaaac 420 cccttgtccg gctacgggtt ccgtttaccc tgtcgcgcaa cgagatcgac gacgtggaac 480 gtggctctaa ggactccgat tgggaaccgg taaaggaggc ggccaagaag ctggccttcg 540 tcgaggaccg cacaatattc gaaggctaca gcgccgcatc aatcgaaggg atccgcagcg 600 cgagttcgaa cccggcgctg acgttgcccg aggatccccg tgaaatccct gatgtcatct 660 cccaggcatt gtccgaactg cggttggccg gtgtggacgg accgtattcg gtgttgctct 720 ctgctgacgt ctacaccaag gttagcgaga cttccgatca cggctatccc atccgtgagc 780 atctgaaccg gctggtggac ggggacatca tttgggcccc ggccatcgac ggcgcgttcg 840 tgctgaccac tcgaggcggc gacttcgacc tacagctggg caccgacgtt gcaatcgggt 900 acgccagcca cgacacggac accgagcgcc tctacctgca ggagacgctg acgttccttt 960 gctacaccgc cgaggcgtcg gtcgcgctca gccactaagg cacgagcgcg agcaatagct 1020 cctatggcaa gcggccgcgg gttgggtgtg ttcggagctg ggctggtgga cggtgcgcag 1080 ggcctggaag acggtgcggg ctaggcggcg tttgaggcag cgtagtgctg cgcgtttggt 1140 tttcccggcg tcttgcagcc tttggtagta ggcctggccc cggctgtcgg tcatccgg 1198 16 265 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 16 Met Asn Asn Leu Tyr Arg Asp Leu Ala Pro Val Thr Glu Ala Ala Trp 1 5 10 15 Ala Glu Ile Glu Leu Glu Ala Ala Arg Thr Phe Lys Arg His Ile Ala 20 25 30 Gly Arg Arg Val Val Asp Val Ser Asp Pro Gly Gly Pro Val Thr Ala 35 40 45 Ala Val Ser Thr Gly Arg Leu Ile Asp Val Lys Ala Pro Thr Asn Gly 50 55 60 Val Ile Ala His Leu Arg Ala Ser Lys Pro Leu Val Arg Leu Arg Val 65 70 75 80 Pro Phe Thr Leu Ser Arg Asn Glu Ile Asp Asp Val Glu Arg Gly Ser 85 90 95 Lys Asp Ser Asp Trp Glu Pro Val Lys Glu Ala Ala Lys Lys Leu Ala 100 105 110 Phe Val Glu Asp Arg Thr Ile Phe Glu Gly Tyr Ser Ala Ala Ser Ile 115 120 125 Glu Gly Ile Arg Ser Ala Ser Ser Asn Pro Ala Leu Thr Leu Pro Glu 130 135 140 Asp Pro Arg Glu Ile Pro Asp Val Ile Ser Gln Ala Leu Ser Glu Leu 145 150 155 160 Arg Leu Ala Gly Val Asp Gly Pro Tyr Ser Val Leu Leu Ser Ala Asp 165 170 175 Val Tyr Thr Lys Val Ser Glu Thr Ser Asp His Gly Tyr Pro Ile Arg 180 185 190 Glu His Leu Asn Arg Leu Val Asp Gly Asp Ile Ile Trp Ala Pro Ala 195 200 205 Ile Asp Gly Ala Phe Val Leu Thr Thr Arg Gly Gly Asp Phe Asp Leu 210 215 220 Gln Leu Gly Thr Asp Val Ala Ile Gly Tyr Ala Ser His Asp Thr Asp 225 230 235 240 Thr Glu Arg Leu Tyr Leu Gln Glu Thr Leu Thr Phe Leu Cys Tyr Thr 245 250 255 Ala Glu Ala Ser Val Ala Leu Ser His 260 265 17 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis MISC_FEATURE (13)..(13) “Xaa” is unknown 17 Ala Glu Leu Asp Ala Pro Ala Gln Ala Gly Thr Glu Xaa Ala Val 1 5 10 15 18 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 18 Ala Gln Ile Thr Leu Arg Gly Asn Ala Ile Asn Thr Val Gly Glu 1 5 10 15 19 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis MISC_FEATURE (3)..(3) “Xaa” is unknown 19 Asp Pro Xaa Ser Asp Ile Ala Val Val Phe Ala Arg Gly Thr His 1 5 10 15 20 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 20 Thr Asn Ser Pro Leu Ala Thr Ala Thr Ala Thr Leu His Thr Asn 1 5 10 15 21 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis MISC_FEATURE (2)..(2) “Xaa” is unknown 21 Ala Xaa Pro Asp Ala Glu Val Val Phe Ala Arg Gly Arg Phe Glu 1 5 10 15 22 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant (14)..(14) Asp is Asp or Gln 22 Xaa Ile Gln Lys Ser Leu Glu Leu Ile Val Val Thr Ala Asp Glu 1 5 10 15 23 19 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 23 Met Asn Asn Leu Tyr Arg Asp Leu Ala Pro Val Thr Glu Ala Ala Trp 1 5 10 15 Ala Glu Ile 24 34 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 24 cccggctcga gaacctstac cgcgacctsg cscc 34 25 37 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 25 gggccggatc cgasgcsgcg tccttsacsg gytgcca 37 26 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 26 ggaagcccca tatgaacaat ctctaccg 28 27 32 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 27 cgcgctcagc ccttagtgac tgagcgcgac cg 32 28 24 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 28 ctcgaattcg ccgggtgcac acag 24 29 25 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 29 ctcgaattcg cccccatacg agaac 25 30 15 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 30 gtgtatctgc tggac 15 31 15 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 31 ccgactggct ggccg 15 32 24 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 32 gaggaattcg cttagcggat cgca 24 33 15 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 33 cccacattcc gttgg 15 34 15 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 34 gtccagcaga tacac 15 35 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 35 gtacgagaat tcatgtcgca aatcatg 27 36 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 36 gtacgagaat tcgagcttgg ggtgccg 27 37 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 37 cgattccaag cttgtggccg ccgacccg 28 38 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 38 cgttagggat cctcatcgcc atggtgttgg 30 39 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 39 cgttagggat ccggttccac tgtgcc 26 40 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 40 cgttagggat cctcaggtct tttcgatg 28 41 952 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 41 gaattcgccg ggtgcacaca gccttacacg acggaggtgg acacatgaag ggtcggtcgg 60 cgctgctgcg ggcgctctgg attgccgcac tgtcattcgg gttgggcggt gtcgcggtag 120 ccgcggaacc caccgccaag gccgccccat acgagaacct gatggtgccg tcgccctcga 180 tgggccggga catcccggtg gccttcctag ccggtgggcc gcacgcggtg tatctgctgg 240 acgccttcaa cgccggcccg gatgtcagta actgggtcac cgcgggtaac gcgatgaaca 300 cgttggcggg caaggggatt tcggtggtgg caccggccgg tggtgcgtac agcatgtaca 360 ccaactggga gcaggatggc agcaagcagt gggacacctt cttgtccgct gagctgcccg 420 actggctggc cgctaaccgg ggcttggccc ccggtggcca tgcggccgtt ggcgccgctc 480 agggcggtta cggggcgatg gcgctggcgg ccttccaccc cgaccgcttc ggcttcgctg 540 gctcgatgtc gggctttttg tacccgtcga acaccaccac caacggtgcg atcgcggcgg 600 gcatgcagca attcggcggt gtggacacca acggaatgtg gggagcacca cagctgggtc 660 ggtggaagtg gcacgacccg tgggtgcatg ccagcctgct ggcgcaaaac aacacccggg 720 tgtgggtgtg gagcccgacc aacccgggag ccagcgatcc cgccgccatg atcggccaaa 780 ccgccgaggc gatgggtaac agccgcatgt tctacaacca gtatcgcagc gtcggcgggc 840 acaacggaca cttcgacttc ccagccagcg gtgacaacgg ctggggctcg tgggcgcccc 900 agctgggcgc tatgtcgggc gatatcgtcg gtgcgatccg ctaagcgaat tc 952 42 298 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 42 Met Lys Gly Arg Ser Ala Leu Leu Arg Ala Leu Trp Ile Ala Ala Leu 1 5 10 15 Ser Phe Gly Leu Gly Gly Val Ala Val Ala Ala Glu Pro Thr Ala Lys 20 25 30 Ala Ala Pro Tyr Glu Asn Leu Met Val Pro Ser Pro Ser Met Gly Arg 35 40 45 Ile Pro Val Ala Phe Leu Ala Gly Gly Pro His Ala Val Tyr Leu Leu 50 55 60 Asp Ala Phe Asn Ala Gly Pro Asp Val Ser Asn Trp Val Thr Ala Gly 65 70 75 80 Asn Ala Met Asn Thr Leu Ala Gly Lys Gly Ile Ser Val Val Ala Pro 85 90 95 Ala Gly Gly Ala Tyr Ser Met Tyr Thr Asn Trp Glu Gln Asp Gly Ser 100 105 110 Lys Gln Trp Asp Thr Phe Leu Ser Ala Glu Leu Pro Asp Trp Leu Ala 115 120 125 Ala Asn Arg Gly Leu Ala Pro Gly Gly His Ala Ala Val Gly Ala Ala 130 135 140 Gln Gly Gly Tyr Gly Ala Met Ala Leu Ala Ala Phe His Pro Asp Arg 145 150 155 160 Phe Gly Phe Ala Gly Ser Met Ser Gly Phe Leu Tyr Pro Ser Asn Thr 165 170 175 Thr Thr Asn Gly Ala Ile Ala Ala Gly Met Gln Gln Phe Gly Gly Val 180 185 190 Asp Thr Asn Gly Met Trp Gly Ala Pro Gln Leu Gly Arg Trp Lys Trp 195 200 205 His Asp Pro Trp Val His Ala Ser Leu Leu Ala Gln Asn Asn Thr Arg 210 215 220 Val Trp Val Trp Ser Pro Thr Asn Pro Gly Ala Ser Asp Pro Ala Ala 225 230 235 240 Met Ile Gly Gln Thr Ala Glu Ala Met Gly Asn Ser Arg Met Phe Tyr 245 250 255 Asn Gln Tyr Arg Ser Val Gly Gly His Asn Gly His Phe Asp Phe Pro 260 265 270 Ala Ser Gly Asp Asn Gly Trp Gly Ser Trp Ala Pro Gln Leu Gly Ala 275 280 285 Met Ser Gly Asp Ile Val Gly Ala Ile Arg 290 295 43 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 43 gcaacacccg ggatgtcgca aatcatg 27 44 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 44 gtaacacccg gggtggccgc cgacccg 27 45 37 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 45 ctactaagct tggatcccta gccgccccat ttggcgg 37 46 38 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 46 ctactaagct tccatggtca ggtcttttcg atgcttac 38 47 450 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 47 gtgccgcgct ccccagggtt cttatggttc gatatacctg agtttgatgg aagtccgatg 60 accagcagtc agcatacggc atggccgaaa agagtggggt gatgatggcc gaggatgttc 120 gcgccgagat cgtggccagc gttctcgaag tcgttgtcaa cgaaggcgat cagatcgaca 180 agggcgacgt cgtggtgctg ctggagtcga tgaagatgga gatccccgtc ctggccgaag 240 ctgccggaac ggtcagcaag gtggcggtat cggtgggcga tgtcattcag gccggcgacc 300 ttatcgcggt gatcagctag tcgttgatag tcactcatgt ccacactcgg tgatctgctc 360 gccgaacaca cggtgctgcc gggcagcgcg gtggaccacc tgcatgcggt ggtcggggag 420 tggcagctcc ttgccgactt gtcgtttgcc 450 48 71 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 48 Met Ala Glu Asp Val Arg Ala Glu Ile Val Ala Ser Val Leu Glu Val 1 5 10 15 Val Val Asn Glu Gly Asp Gln Ile Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Val Val Leu 20 25 30 Leu Glu Ser Met Lys Met Glu Ile Pro Val Leu Ala Glu Ala Ala Gly 35 40 45 Thr Val Ser Lys Val Ala Val Ser Val Gly Asp Val Ile Gln Ala Gly 50 55 60 Asp Leu Ile Ala Val Ile Ser 65 70 49 749 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 49 gggtacccat cgatgggttg cggttcggca ccgaggtgct aacgcacttg ctgacacact 60 gctagtcgaa aacgaggcta gtcgcaacgt cgatcacacg agaggactga ccatgacaac 120 ttcacccgac ccgtatgccg cgctgcccaa gctgccgtcc ttcagcctga cgtcaacctc 180 gatcaccgat gggcagccgc tggctacacc ccaggtcagc gggatcatgg gtgcgggcgg 240 ggcggatgcc agtccgcagc tgaggtggtc gggatttccc agcgagaccc gcagcttcgc 300 ggtaaccgtc tacgaccctg atgcccccac cctgtccggg ttctggcact gggcggtggc 360 caacctgcct gccaacgtca ccgagttgcc cgagggtgtc ggcgatggcc gcgaactgcc 420 gggcggggca ctgacattgg tcaacgacgc cggtatgcgc cggtatgtgg gtgcggcgcc 480 gcctcccggt catggggtgc atcgctacta cgtcgcggta cacgcggtga aggtcgaaaa 540 gctcgacctc cccgaggacg cgagtcctgc atatctggga ttcaacctgt tccagcacgc 600 gattgcacga gcggtcatct tcggcaccta cgagcagcgt tagcgcttta gctgggttgc 660 cgacgtcttg ccgagccgac cgcttcgtgc agcgagccga acccgccgtc atgcagcctg 720 gggcaatgcc ttcatggatg tccttggcc 749 50 176 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 50 Met Thr Thr Ser Pro Asp Pro Tyr Ala Ala Leu Pro Lys Leu Pro Ser 1 5 10 15 Phe Ser Leu Thr Ser Thr Ser Ile Thr Asp Gly Gln Pro Leu Ala Thr 20 25 30 Pro Gln Val Ser Gly Ile Met Gly Ala Gly Gly Ala Asp Ala Ser Pro 35 40 45 Gln Leu Arg Trp Ser Gly Phe Pro Ser Glu Thr Arg Ser Phe Ala Val 50 55 60 Thr Val Tyr Asp Pro Asp Ala Pro Thr Leu Ser Gly Phe Trp His Trp 65 70 75 80 Ala Val Ala Asn Leu Pro Ala Asn Val Thr Glu Leu Pro Glu Gly Val 85 90 95 Gly Asp Gly Arg Glu Leu Pro Gly Gly Ala Leu Thr Leu Val Asn Asp 100 105 110 Ala Gly Met Arg Arg Tyr Val Gly Ala Ala Pro Pro Pro Gly His Gly 115 120 125 Val His Arg Tyr Tyr Val Ala Val His Ala Val Lys Val Glu Lys Leu 130 135 140 Asp Leu Pro Glu Asp Ala Ser Pro Ala Tyr Leu Gly Phe Asn Leu Phe 145 150 155 160 Gln His Ala Ile Ala Arg Ala Val Ile Phe Gly Thr Tyr Glu Gln Arg 165 170 175 51 800 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 51 tcatgaggtt catcggggtg atcccacgcc cgcagccgca ttcgggccgc tggcgagccg 60 gtgccgcacg ccgcctcacc agcctggtgg ccgccgcctt tgcggcggcc acactgttgc 120 ttacccccgc gctggcacca ccggcatcgg cgggctgccc ggatgccgag gtggtgttcg 180 cccgcggaac cggcgaacca cctggcctcg gtcgggtagg ccaagctttc gtcagttcat 240 tgcgccagca gaccaacaag agcatcggga catacggagt caactacccg gccaacggtg 300 atttcttggc cgccgctgac ggcgcgaacg acgccagcga ccacattcag cagatggcca 360 gcgcgtgccg ggccacgagg ttggtgctcg gcggctactc ccagggtgcg gccgtgatcg 420 acatcgtcac cgccgcacca ctgcccggcc tcgggttcac gcagccgttg ccgcccgcag 480 cggacgatca catcgccgcg atcgccctgt tcgggaatcc ctcgggccgc gctggcgggc 540 tgatgagcgc cctgacccct caattcgggt ccaagaccat caacctctgc aacaacggcg 600 acccgatttg ttcggacggc aaccggtggc gagcgcacct aggctacgtg cccgggatga 660 ccaaccaggc ggcgcgtttc gtcgcgagca ggatctaacg cgagccgccc catagattcc 720 ggctaagcaa cggctgcgcc gccgcccggc cacgagtgac cgccgccgac tggcacaccg 780 cttaccacgg ccttatgctg 800 52 226 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 52 Met Ile Pro Arg Pro Gln Pro His Ser Gly Arg Trp Arg Ala Gly Ala 1 5 10 15 Ala Arg Arg Leu Thr Ser Leu Val Ala Ala Ala Phe Ala Ala Ala Thr 20 25 30 Leu Leu Leu Thr Pro Ala Leu Ala Pro Pro Ala Ser Ala Gly Cys Pro 35 40 45 Asp Ala Glu Val Val Phe Ala Arg Gly Thr Gly Glu Pro Pro Gly Leu 50 55 60 Gly Arg Val Gly Gln Ala Phe Val Ser Ser Leu Arg Gln Gln Thr Asn 65 70 75 80 Lys Ser Ile Gly Thr Tyr Gly Val Asn Tyr Pro Ala Asn Gly Asp Phe 85 90 95 Leu Ala Ala Ala Asp Gly Ala Asn Asp Ala Ser Asp His Ile Gln Gln 100 105 110 Met Ala Ser Ala Cys Arg Ala Thr Arg Leu Val Leu Gly Gly Tyr Ser 115 120 125 Gln Gly Ala Ala Val Ile Asp Ile Val Thr Ala Ala Pro Leu Pro Gly 130 135 140 Leu Gly Phe Thr Gln Pro Leu Pro Pro Ala Ala Asp Asp His Ile Ala 145 150 155 160 Ala Ile Ala Leu Phe Gly Asn Pro Ser Gly Arg Ala Gly Gly Leu Met 165 170 175 Ser Ala Leu Thr Pro Gln Phe Gly Ser Lys Thr Ile Asn Leu Cys Asn 180 185 190 Asn Gly Asp Pro Ile Cys Ser Asp Gly Asn Arg Trp Arg Ala His Leu 195 200 205 Gly Tyr Val Pro Gly Met Thr Asn Gln Ala Ala Arg Phe Val Ala Ser 210 215 220 Arg Ile 225 53 700 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 53 ctaggaaagc ctttcctgag taagtattgc cttcgttgca taccgccctt tacctgcgtt 60 aatctgcatt ttatgacaga atacgaaggg cctaagacaa aattccacgc gttaatgcag 120 gaacagattc ataacgaatt cacagcggca caacaatatg tcgcgatcgc ggtttatttc 180 gacagcgaag acctgccgca gttggcgaag catttttaca gccaagcggt cgaggaacga 240 aaccatgcaa tgatgctcgt gcaacacctg ctcgaccgcg accttcgtgt cgaaattccc 300 ggcgtagaca cggtgcgaaa ccagttcgac agaccccgcg aggcactggc gctggcgctc 360 gatcaggaac gcacagtcac cgaccaggtc ggtcggctga cagcggtggc ccgcgacgag 420 ggcgatttcc tcggcgagca gttcatgcag tggttcttgc aggaacagat cgaagaggtg 480 gccttgatgg caaccctggt gcgggttgcc gatcgggccg gggccaacct gttcgagcta 540 gagaacttcg tcgcacgtga agtggatgtg gcgccggccg catcaggcgc cccgcacgct 600 gccgggggcc gcctctagat ccctggcggg gatcagcgag tggtcccgtt cgcccgcccg 660 tcttccagcc aggccttggt gcggccgggg tggtgagtac 700 54 181 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 54 Met Thr Glu Tyr Glu Gly Pro Lys Thr Lys Phe His Ala Leu Met Gln 1 5 10 15 Glu Gln Ile His Asn Glu Phe Thr Ala Ala Gln Gln Tyr Val Ala Ile 20 25 30 Ala Val Tyr Phe Asp Ser Glu Asp Leu Pro Gln Leu Ala Lys His Phe 35 40 45 Tyr Ser Gln Ala Val Glu Glu Arg Asn His Ala Met Met Leu Val Gln 50 55 60 His Leu Leu Asp Arg Asp Leu Arg Val Glu Ile Pro Gly Val Asp Thr 65 70 75 80 Val Arg Asn Gln Phe Asp Arg Pro Arg Glu Ala Leu Ala Leu Ala Leu 85 90 95 Asp Gln Glu Arg Thr Val Thr Asp Gln Val Gly Arg Leu Thr Ala Val 100 105 110 Ala Arg Asp Glu Gly Asp Phe Leu Gly Glu Gln Phe Met Gln Trp Phe 115 120 125 Leu Gln Glu Gln Ile Glu Glu Val Ala Leu Met Ala Thr Leu Val Arg 130 135 140 Val Ala Asp Arg Ala Gly Ala Asn Leu Phe Glu Leu Glu Asn Phe Val 145 150 155 160 Ala Arg Glu Val Asp Val Ala Pro Ala Ala Ser Gly Ala Pro His Ala 165 170 175 Ala Gly Gly Arg Leu 180 55 950 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 55 tgggctcggc actggctctc ccacggtggc gcgctgattt ctccccacgg taggcgttgc 60 gacgcatgtt cttcaccgtc tatccacagc taccgacatt tgctccggct ggatcgcggg 120 taaaattccg tcgtgaacaa tcgacccatc cgcctgctga catccggcag ggctggtttg 180 ggtgcgggcg cattgatcac cgccgtcgtc ctgctcatcg ccttgggcgc tgtttggacc 240 ccggttgcct tcgccgatgg atgcccggac gccgaagtca cgttcgcccg cggcaccggc 300 gagccgcccg gaatcgggcg cgttggccag gcgttcgtcg actcgctgcg ccagcagact 360 ggcatggaga tcggagtata cccggtgaat tacgccgcca gccgcctaca gctgcacggg 420 ggagacggcg ccaacgacgc catatcgcac attaagtcca tggcctcgtc atgcccgaac 480 accaagctgg tcttgggcgg ctattcgcag ggcgcaaccg tgatcgatat cgtggccggg 540 gttccgttgg gcagcatcag ctttggcagt ccgctacctg cggcatacgc agacaacgtc 600 gcagcggtcg cggtcttcgg caatccgtcc aaccgcgccg gcggatcgct gtcgagcctg 660 agcccgctat tcggttccaa ggcgattgac ctgtgcaatc ccaccgatcc gatctgccat 720 gtgggccccg gcaacgaatt cagcggacac atcgacggct acatacccac ctacaccacc 780 caggcggcta gtttcgtcgt gcagaggctc cgcgccgggt cggtgccaca tctgcctgga 840 tccgtcccgc agctgcccgg gtctgtcctt cagatgcccg gcactgccgc accggctccc 900 gaatcgctgc acggtcgctg acgctttgtc agtaagccca taaaatcgcg 950 56 262 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 56 Met Asn Asn Arg Pro Ile Arg Leu Leu Thr Ser Gly Arg Ala Gly Leu 1 5 10 15 Gly Ala Gly Ala Leu Ile Thr Ala Val Val Leu Leu Ile Ala Leu Gly 20 25 30 Ala Val Trp Thr Pro Val Ala Phe Ala Asp Gly Cys Pro Asp Ala Glu 35 40 45 Val Thr Phe Ala Arg Gly Thr Gly Glu Pro Pro Gly Ile Gly Arg Val 50 55 60 Gly Gln Ala Phe Val Asp Ser Leu Arg Gln Gln Thr Gly Met Glu Ile 65 70 75 80 Gly Val Tyr Pro Val Asn Tyr Ala Ala Ser Arg Leu Gln Leu His Gly 85 90 95 Gly Asp Gly Ala Asn Asp Ala Ile Ser His Ile Lys Ser Met Ala Ser 100 105 110 Ser Cys Pro Asn Thr Lys Leu Val Leu Gly Gly Tyr Ser Gln Gly Ala 115 120 125 Thr Val Ile Asp Ile Val Ala Gly Val Pro Leu Gly Ser Ile Ser Phe 130 135 140 Gly Ser Pro Leu Pro Ala Ala Tyr Ala Asp Asn Val Ala Ala Val Ala 145 150 155 160 Val Phe Gly Asn Pro Ser Asn Arg Ala Gly Gly Ser Leu Ser Ser Leu 165 170 175 Ser Pro Leu Phe Gly Ser Lys Ala Ile Asp Leu Cys Asn Pro Thr Asp 180 185 190 Pro Ile Cys His Val Gly Pro Gly Asn Glu Phe Ser Gly His Ile Asp 195 200 205 Gly Tyr Ile Pro Thr Tyr Thr Thr Gln Ala Ala Ser Phe Val Val Gln 210 215 220 Arg Leu Arg Ala Gly Ser Val Pro His Leu Pro Gly Ser Val Pro Gln 225 230 235 240 Leu Pro Gly Ser Val Leu Gln Met Pro Gly Thr Ala Ala Pro Ala Pro 245 250 255 Glu Ser Leu His Gly Arg 260 57 1000 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 57 cgaggagacc gacgatctgc tcgacgaaat cgacgacgtc ctcgaggaga acgccgagga 60 cttcgtccgc gcatacgtcc aaaagggcgg acagtgacct ggccgttgcc cgatcgcctg 120 tccattaatt cactctctgg aacacccgct gtagacctat cttctttcac tgacttcctg 180 cgccgccagg cgccggagtt gctgccggca agcatcagcg gcggtgcgcc actcgcaggc 240 ggcgatgcgc aactgccgca cggcaccacc attgtcgcgc tgaaataccc cggcggtgtt 300 gtcatggcgg gtgaccggcg ttcgacgcag ggcaacatga tttctgggcg tgatgtgcgc 360 aaggtgtata tcaccgatga ctacaccgct accggcatcg ctggcacggc tgcggtcgcg 420 gttgagtttg cccggctgta tgccgtggaa cttgagcact acgagaagct cgagggtgtg 480 ccgctgacgt ttgccggcaa aatcaaccgg ctggcgatta tggtgcgtgg caatctggcg 540 gccgcgatgc agggtctgct ggcgttgccg ttgctggcgg gctacgacat tcatgcgtct 600 gacccgcaga gcgcgggtcg tatcgtttcg ttcgacgccg ccggcggttg gaacatcgag 660 gaagagggct atcaggcggt gggctcgggt tcgctgttcg cgaagtcgtc gatgaagaag 720 ttgtattcgc aggttaccga cggtgattcg gggctgcggg tggcggtcga ggcgctctac 780 gacgccgccg acgacgactc cgccaccggc ggtccggacc tggtgcgggg catctttccg 840 acggcggtga tcatcgacgc cgacggggcg gttgacgtgc cggagagccg gattgccgaa 900 ttggcccgcg cgatcatcga aagccgttcg ggtgcggata ctttcggctc cgatggcggt 960 gagaagtgag ttttccgtat ttcatctcgc ctgagcaggc 1000 58 291 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 58 Met Thr Trp Pro Leu Pro Asp Arg Leu Ser Ile Asn Ser Leu Ser Gly 1 5 10 15 Thr Pro Ala Val Asp Leu Ser Ser Phe Thr Asp Phe Leu Arg Arg Gln 20 25 30 Ala Pro Glu Leu Leu Pro Ala Ser Ile Ser Gly Gly Ala Pro Leu Ala 35 40 45 Gly Gly Asp Ala Gln Leu Pro His Gly Thr Thr Ile Val Ala Leu Lys 50 55 60 Tyr Pro Gly Gly Val Val Met Ala Gly Asp Arg Arg Ser Thr Gln Gly 65 70 75 80 Asn Met Ile Ser Gly Arg Asp Val Arg Lys Val Tyr Ile Thr Asp Asp 85 90 95 Tyr Thr Ala Thr Gly Ile Ala Gly Thr Ala Ala Val Ala Val Glu Phe 100 105 110 Ala Arg Leu Tyr Ala Val Glu Leu Glu His Tyr Glu Lys Leu Glu Gly 115 120 125 Val Pro Leu Thr Phe Ala Gly Lys Ile Asn Arg Leu Ala Ile Met Val 130 135 140 Arg Gly Asn Leu Ala Ala Ala Met Gln Gly Leu Leu Ala Leu Pro Leu 145 150 155 160 Leu Ala Gly Tyr Asp Ile His Ala Ser Asp Pro Gln Ser Ala Gly Arg 165 170 175 Ile Val Ser Phe Asp Ala Ala Gly Gly Trp Asn Ile Glu Glu Glu Gly 180 185 190 Tyr Gln Ala Val Gly Ser Gly Ser Leu Phe Ala Lys Ser Ser Met Lys 195 200 205 Lys Leu Tyr Ser Gln Val Thr Asp Gly Asp Ser Gly Leu Arg Val Ala 210 215 220 Val Glu Ala Leu Tyr Asp Ala Ala Asp Asp Asp Ser Ala Thr Gly Gly 225 230 235 240 Pro Asp Leu Val Arg Gly Ile Phe Pro Thr Ala Val Ile Ile Asp Ala 245 250 255 Asp Gly Ala Val Asp Val Pro Glu Ser Arg Ile Ala Glu Leu Ala Arg 260 265 270 Ala Ile Ile Glu Ser Arg Ser Gly Ala Asp Thr Phe Gly Ser Asp Gly 275 280 285 Gly Glu Lys 290 59 899 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 59 ttggcccgcg cgatcatcga aagccgttcg ggtgcggata ctttcggctc cgatggcggt 60 gagaagtgag ttttccgtat ttcatctcgc ctgagcaggc gatgcgcgag cgcagcgagt 120 tggcgcgtaa gggcattgcg cgggccaaaa gcgtggtggc gctggcctat gccggtggtg 180 tgctgttcgt cgcggagaat ccgtcgcggt cgctgcagaa gatcagtgag ctctacgatc 240 gggtgggttt tgcggctgcg gcaagttcaa cgagttcgac aatttgcgcc gcggcgggat 300 ccagttcgcc gacacccgcg gttacgccta tgaccgtcgt gacgtcacgg gtcggcagtt 360 ggccaatgtc tacgcgcaga ctctaggcac catcttcacc gaacaggcca agccctacga 420 ggttgagttg tgtgtggccg aggtggcgca ttacggcgag acgaaacgcc ctgagttgta 480 tcgtattacc tacgacgggt cgatcgccga cgagccgcat ttcgtggtga tgggcggcac 540 cacggagccg atcgccaacg cgctcaaaga gtcgtatgcc gagaacgcca gcctgaccga 600 cgccctgcgt atcgcggtcg ctgcattgcg ggccggcagt gccgacacct cgggtggtga 660 tcaacccacc cttggcgtgg ccagcttaga ggtggccgtt ctcgatgcca accggccacg 720 gcgcgcgttc cggcgcatca ccggctccgc cctgcaagcg ttgctggtag accaggaaag 780 cccgcagtct gacggcgaat cgtcgggctg agtccgaaag tccgacgcgt gtctgggacc 840 ccgctgcgac gttaactgcg cctaaccccg gctcgacgcg tcgccggccg tcctgactt 899 60 248 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 60 Met Ser Phe Pro Tyr Phe Ile Ser Pro Glu Gln Ala Met Arg Glu Arg 1 5 10 15 Ser Glu Leu Ala Arg Lys Gly Ile Ala Arg Ala Lys Ser Val Val Ala 20 25 30 Leu Ala Tyr Ala Gly Gly Val Leu Phe Val Ala Glu Asn Pro Ser Arg 35 40 45 Ser Leu Gln Lys Ile Ser Glu Leu Tyr Asp Arg Val Gly Phe Ala Ala 50 55 60 Ala Gly Lys Phe Asn Glu Phe Asp Asn Leu Arg Arg Gly Gly Ile Gln 65 70 75 80 Phe Ala Asp Thr Arg Gly Tyr Ala Tyr Asp Arg Arg Asp Val Thr Gly 85 90 95 Arg Gln Leu Ala Asn Val Tyr Ala Gln Thr Leu Gly Thr Ile Phe Thr 100 105 110 Glu Gln Ala Lys Pro Tyr Glu Val Glu Leu Cys Val Ala Glu Val Ala 115 120 125 His Tyr Gly Glu Thr Lys Arg Pro Glu Leu Tyr Arg Ile Thr Tyr Asp 130 135 140 Gly Ser Ile Ala Asp Glu Pro His Phe Val Val Met Gly Gly Thr Thr 145 150 155 160 Glu Pro Ile Ala Asn Ala Leu Lys Glu Ser Tyr Ala Glu Asn Ala Ser 165 170 175 Leu Thr Asp Ala Leu Arg Ile Ala Val Ala Ala Leu Arg Ala Gly Ser 180 185 190 Ala Asp Thr Ser Gly Gly Asp Gln Pro Thr Leu Gly Val Ala Ser Leu 195 200 205 Glu Val Ala Val Leu Asp Ala Asn Arg Pro Arg Arg Ala Phe Arg Arg 210 215 220 Ile Thr Gly Ser Ala Leu Gln Ala Leu Leu Val Asp Gln Glu Ser Pro 225 230 235 240 Gln Ser Asp Gly Glu Ser Ser Gly 245 61 1560 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 61 gagtcattgc ctggtcggcg tcattccgta ctagtcggtt gtcggacttg acctactggg 60 tcaggccgac gagcactcga ccattagggt aggggccgtg acccactatg acgtcgtcgt 120 tctcggagcc ggtcccggcg ggtatgtcgc ggcgattcgc gccgcacagc tcggcctgag 180 cactgcaatc gtcgaaccca agtactgggg cggagtatgc ctcaatgtcg gctgtatccc 240 atccaaggcg ctgttgcgca acgccgaact ggtccacatc ttcaccaagg acgccaaagc 300 atttggcatc agcggcgagg tgaccttcga ctacggcatc gcctatgacc gcagccgaaa 360 ggtagccgag ggcagggtgg ccggtgtgca cttcctgatg aagaagaaca agatcaccga 420 gatccacggg tacggcacat ttgccgacgc caacacgttg ttggttgatc tcaacgacgg 480 cggtacagaa tcggtcacgt tcgacaacgc catcatcgcg accggcagta gcacccggct 540 ggttcccggc acctcactgt cggccaacgt agtcacctac gaggaacaga tcctgtcccg 600 agagctgccg aaatcgatca ttattgccgg agctggtgcc attggcatgg agttcggcta 660 cgtgctgaag aactacggcg ttgacgtgac catcgtggaa ttccttccgc gggcgctgcc 720 caacgaggac gccgatgtgt ccaaggagat cgagaagcag ttcaaaaagc tgggtgtcac 780 gatcctgacc gccacgaagg tcgagtccat cgccgatggc gggtcgcagg tcaccgtgac 840 cgtcaccaag gacggcgtgg cgcaagagct taaggcggaa aaggtgttgc aggccatcgg 900 atttgcgccc aacgtcgaag ggtacgggct ggacaaggca ggcgtcgcgc tgaccgaccg 960 caaggctatc ggtgtcgacg actacatgcg taccaacgtg ggccacatct acgctatcgg 1020 cgatgtcaat ggattactgc agctggcgca cgtcgccgag gcacaaggcg tggtagccgc 1080 cgaaaccatt gccggtgcag agactttgac gctgggcgac catcggatgt tgccgcgcgc 1140 gacgttctgt cagccaaacg ttgccagctt cgggctcacc gagcagcaag cccgcaacga 1200 aggttacgac gtggtggtgg ccaagttccc gttcacggcc aacgccaagg cgcacggcgt 1260 gggtgacccc agtgggttcg tcaagctggt ggccgacgcc aagcacggcg agctactggg 1320 tgggcacctg gtcggccacg acgtggccga gctgctgccg gagctcacgc tggcgcagag 1380 gtgggacctg accgccagcg agctggctcg caacgtccac acccacccaa cgatgtctga 1440 ggcgctgcag gagtgcttcc acggcctggt tggccacatg atcaatttct gagcggctca 1500 tgacgaggcg cgcgagcact gacacccccc agatcatcat gggtgccatc ggtggtgtgg 1560 62 464 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 62 Met Thr His Tyr Asp Val Val Val Leu Gly Ala Gly Pro Gly Gly Tyr 1 5 10 15 Val Ala Ala Ile Arg Ala Ala Gln Leu Gly Leu Ser Thr Ala Ile Val 20 25 30 Glu Pro Lys Tyr Trp Gly Gly Val Cys Leu Asn Val Gly Cys Ile Pro 35 40 45 Ser Lys Ala Leu Leu Arg Asn Ala Glu Leu Val His Ile Phe Thr Lys 50 55 60 Asp Ala Lys Ala Phe Gly Ile Ser Gly Glu Val Thr Phe Asp Tyr Gly 65 70 75 80 Ile Ala Tyr Asp Arg Ser Arg Lys Val Ala Glu Gly Arg Val Ala Gly 85 90 95 Val His Phe Leu Met Lys Lys Asn Lys Ile Thr Glu Ile His Gly Tyr 100 105 110 Gly Thr Phe Ala Asp Ala Asn Thr Leu Leu Val Asp Leu Asn Asp Gly 115 120 125 Gly Thr Glu Ser Val Thr Phe Asp Asn Ala Ile Ile Ala Thr Gly Ser 130 135 140 Ser Thr Arg Leu Val Pro Gly Thr Ser Leu Ser Ala Asn Val Val Thr 145 150 155 160 Tyr Glu Glu Gln Ile Leu Ser Arg Glu Leu Pro Lys Ser Ile Ile Ile 165 170 175 Ala Gly Ala Gly Ala Ile Gly Met Glu Phe Gly Tyr Val Leu Lys Asn 180 185 190 Tyr Gly Val Asp Val Thr Ile Val Glu Phe Leu Pro Arg Ala Leu Pro 195 200 205 Asn Glu Asp Ala Asp Val Ser Lys Glu Ile Glu Lys Gln Phe Lys Lys 210 215 220 Leu Gly Val Thr Ile Leu Thr Ala Thr Lys Val Glu Ser Ile Ala Asp 225 230 235 240 Gly Gly Ser Gln Val Thr Val Thr Val Thr Lys Asp Gly Val Ala Gln 245 250 255 Glu Leu Lys Ala Glu Lys Val Leu Gln Ala Ile Gly Phe Ala Pro Asn 260 265 270 Val Glu Gly Tyr Gly Leu Asp Lys Ala Gly Val Ala Leu Thr Asp Arg 275 280 285 Lys Ala Ile Gly Val Asp Asp Tyr Met Arg Thr Asn Val Gly His Ile 290 295 300 Tyr Ala Ile Gly Asp Val Asn Gly Leu Leu Gln Leu Ala His Val Ala 305 310 315 320 Glu Ala Gln Gly Val Val Ala Ala Glu Thr Ile Ala Gly Ala Glu Thr 325 330 335 Leu Thr Leu Gly Asp His Arg Met Leu Pro Arg Ala Thr Phe Cys Gln 340 345 350 Pro Asn Val Ala Ser Phe Gly Leu Thr Glu Gln Gln Ala Arg Asn Glu 355 360 365 Gly Tyr Asp Val Val Val Ala Lys Phe Pro Phe Thr Ala Asn Ala Lys 370 375 380 Ala His Gly Val Gly Asp Pro Ser Gly Phe Val Lys Leu Val Ala Asp 385 390 395 400 Ala Lys His Gly Glu Leu Leu Gly Gly His Leu Val Gly His Asp Val 405 410 415 Ala Glu Leu Leu Pro Glu Leu Thr Leu Ala Gln Arg Trp Asp Leu Thr 420 425 430 Ala Ser Glu Leu Ala Arg Asn Val His Thr His Pro Thr Met Ser Glu 435 440 445 Ala Leu Gln Glu Cys Phe His Gly Leu Val Gly His Met Ile Asn Phe 450 455 460 63 550 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 63 ggcccggctc gcggccgccc tgcaggaaaa gaaggcctgc ccaggcccag actcagccga 60 gtagtcaccc agtaccccac accaggaagg accgcccatc atggcaaagc tctccaccga 120 cgaactgctg gacgcgttca aggaaatgac cctgttggag ctctccgact tcgtcaagaa 180 gttcgaggag accttcgagg tcaccgccgc cgctccagtc gccgtcgccg ccgccggtgc 240 cgccccggcc ggtgccgccg tcgaggctgc cgaggagcag tccgagttcg acgtgatcct 300 tgaggccgcc ggcgacaaga agatcggcgt catcaaggtg gtccgggaga tcgtttccgg 360 cctgggcctc aaggaggcca aggacctggt cgacggcgcg cccaagccgc tgctggagaa 420 ggtcgccaag gaggccgccg acgaggccaa ggccaagctg gaggccgccg gcgccaccgt 480 caccgtcaag tagctctgcc cagcgtgttc ttttgcgtct gctcggcccg tagcgaacac 540 tgcgcccgct 550 64 130 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 64 Met Ala Lys Leu Ser Thr Asp Glu Leu Leu Asp Ala Phe Lys Glu Met 1 5 10 15 Thr Leu Leu Glu Leu Ser Asp Phe Val Lys Lys Phe Glu Glu Thr Phe 20 25 30 Glu Val Thr Ala Ala Ala Pro Val Ala Val Ala Ala Ala Gly Ala Ala 35 40 45 Pro Ala Gly Ala Ala Val Glu Ala Ala Glu Glu Gln Ser Glu Phe Asp 50 55 60 Val Ile Leu Glu Ala Ala Gly Asp Lys Lys Ile Gly Val Ile Lys Val 65 70 75 80 Val Arg Glu Ile Val Ser Gly Leu Gly Leu Lys Glu Ala Lys Asp Leu 85 90 95 Val Asp Gly Ala Pro Lys Pro Leu Leu Glu Lys Val Ala Lys Glu Ala 100 105 110 Ala Asp Glu Ala Lys Ala Lys Leu Glu Ala Ala Gly Ala Thr Val Thr 115 120 125 Val Lys 130 65 900 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 65 tgaacgccat cgggtccaac gaacgcagcg ctacctgatc accaccgggt ctgttagggc 60 tcttccccag gtcgtacagt cgggccatgg ccattgaggt ttcggtgttg cgggttttca 120 ccgattcaga cgggaatttc ggtaatccgc tgggggtgat caacgccagc aaggtcgaac 180 accgcgacag gcagcagctg gcagcccaat cgggctacag cgaaaccata ttcgtcgatc 240 ttcccagccc cggctcaacc accgcacacg ccaccatcca tactccccgc accgaaattc 300 cgttcgccgg acacccgacc gtgggagcgt cctggtggct gcgcgagagg gggacgccaa 360 ttaacacgct gcaggtgccg gccggcatcg tccaggtgag ctaccacggt gatctcaccg 420 ccatcagcgc ccgctcggaa tgggcacccg agttcgccat ccacgacctg gattcacttg 480 atgcgcttgc cgccgccgac cccgccgact ttccggacga catcgcgcac tacctctgga 540 cctggaccga ccgctccgct ggctcgctgc gcgcccgcat gtttgccgcc aacttgggcg 600 tcaccgaaga cgaagcgacc ggtgccgcgg ccatccggat taccgattac ctcagccgtg 660 acctcaccat cacccagggc aaaggatcgt tgatccacac cacctggagt cccgagggct 720 gggttcgggt agccggccga gttgtcagcg acggtgtggc acaactcgac tgacgtagag 780 ctcagcgctg ccgatgcaac acggcggcaa ggtgatcctg caggggttgc ccgaccgcgc 840 gcatctgcaa cgagtacgaa agctcgtcgc cgtcgatgcg gtaggaacgg tcaagggcgg 900 66 228 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 66 Met Ala Ile Glu Val Ser Val Leu Arg Val Phe Thr Asp Ser Asp Gly 1 5 10 15 Asn Phe Gly Asn Pro Leu Gly Val Ile Asn Ala Ser Lys Val Glu His 20 25 30 Arg Asp Arg Gln Gln Leu Ala Ala Gln Ser Gly Tyr Ser Glu Thr Ile 35 40 45 Phe Val Asp Leu Pro Ser Pro Gly Ser Thr Thr Ala His Ala Thr Ile 50 55 60 His Thr Pro Arg Thr Glu Ile Pro Phe Ala Gly His Pro Thr Val Gly 65 70 75 80 Ala Ser Trp Trp Leu Arg Glu Arg Gly Thr Pro Ile Asn Thr Leu Gln 85 90 95 Val Pro Ala Gly Ile Val Gln Val Ser Tyr His Gly Asp Leu Thr Ala 100 105 110 Ile Ser Ala Arg Ser Glu Trp Ala Pro Glu Phe Ala Ile His Asp Leu 115 120 125 Asp Ser Leu Asp Ala Leu Ala Ala Ala Asp Pro Ala Asp Phe Pro Asp 130 135 140 Asp Ile Ala His Tyr Leu Trp Thr Trp Thr Asp Arg Ser Ala Gly Ser 145 150 155 160 Leu Arg Ala Arg Met Phe Ala Ala Asn Leu Gly Val Thr Glu Asp Glu 165 170 175 Ala Thr Gly Ala Ala Ala Ile Arg Ile Thr Asp Tyr Leu Ser Arg Asp 180 185 190 Leu Thr Ile Thr Gln Gly Lys Gly Ser Leu Ile His Thr Thr Trp Ser 195 200 205 Pro Glu Gly Trp Val Arg Val Ala Gly Arg Val Val Ser Asp Gly Val 210 215 220 Ala Gln Leu Asp 225 67 500 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 67 gtttgtggtg tcggtggtct ggggggcgcc aactgggatt cggttggggt gggtgcaggt 60 ccggcgatgg gcatcggagg tgtgggtggt ttgggtgggg ccggttcggg tccggcgatg 120 ggcatggggg gtgtgggtgg tttgggtggg gccggttcgg gtccggcgat gggcatgggg 180 ggtgtgggtg gtttagatgc ggccggttcc ggcgagggcg gctctcctgc ggcgatcggc 240 atcggagttg gcggaggcgg aggtgggggt gggggtggcg gcggcggggc cgacacgaac 300 cgctccgaca ggtcgtcgga cgtcgggggc ggagtctggc cgttgggctt cggtaggttt 360 gccgatgcgg gcgccggcgg aaacgaagca ctggggtcga agaacggctg cgctgccata 420 tcgtccggag cttccatacc ttcgtgcggc cggaagagct tgtcgtagtc ggccgccatg 480 acaacctctc agagtgcgct 500 68 139 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 68 Met Gly Ala Gly Pro Ala Met Gly Ile Gly Gly Val Gly Gly Leu Gly 1 5 10 15 Gly Ala Gly Ser Gly Pro Ala Met Gly Met Gly Gly Val Gly Gly Leu 20 25 30 Gly Gly Ala Gly Ser Gly Pro Ala Met Gly Met Gly Gly Val Gly Gly 35 40 45 Leu Asp Ala Ala Gly Ser Gly Glu Gly Gly Ser Pro Ala Ala Ile Gly 50 55 60 Ile Gly Val Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly Gly 65 70 75 80 Ala Asp Thr Asn Arg Ser Asp Arg Ser Ser Asp Val Gly Gly Gly Val 85 90 95 Trp Pro Leu Gly Phe Gly Arg Phe Ala Asp Ala Gly Ala Gly Gly Asn 100 105 110 Glu Ala Leu Gly Ser Lys Asn Gly Cys Ala Ala Ile Ser Ser Gly Ala 115 120 125 Ser Ile Pro Ser Cys Gly Arg Lys Ser Leu Ser 130 135 69 2050 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 69 agcgcactct gagaggttgt catggcggcc gactacgaca agctcttccg gccgcacgaa 60 ggtatggaag ctccggacga tatggcagcg cagccgttct tcgaccccag tgcttcgttt 120 ccgccggcgc ccgcatcggc aaacctaccg aagcccaacg gccagactcc gcccccgacg 180 tccgacgacc tgtcggagcg gttcgtgtcg gccccgccgc cgccaccccc acccccacct 240 ccgcctccgc caactccgat gccgatcgcc gcaggagagc cgccctcgcc ggaaccggcc 300 gcatctaaac cacccacacc ccccatgccc atcgccggac ccgaaccggc cccacccaaa 360 ccacccacac cccccatgcc catcgccgga cccgaaccgg ccccacccaa accacccaca 420 cctccgatgc ccatcgccgg acctgcaccc accccaaccg aatcccagtt ggcgcccccc 480 agaccaccga caccacaaac gccaaccgga gcgccgcagc aaccggaatc accggcgccc 540 cacgtaccct cgcacgggcc acatcaaccc cggcgcaccg caccagcacc gccctgggca 600 aagatgccaa tcggcgaacc cccgcccgct ccgtccagac cgtctgcgtc cccggccgaa 660 ccaccgaccc ggcctgcccc ccaacactcc cgacgtgcgc gccggggtca ccgctatcgc 720 acagacaccg aacgaaacgt cgggaaggta gcaactggtc catccatcca ggcgcggctg 780 cgggcagagg aagcatccgg cgcgcagctc gcccccggaa cggagccctc gccagcgccg 840 ttgggccaac cgagatcgta tctggctccg cccacccgcc ccgcgccgac agaacctccc 900 cccagcccct cgccgcagcg caactccggt cggcgtgccg agcgacgcgt ccaccccgat 960 ttagccgccc aacatgccgc ggcgcaacct gattcaatta cggccgcaac cactggcggt 1020 cgtcgccgca agcgtgcagc gccggatctc gacgcgacac agaaatcctt aaggccggcg 1080 gccaaggggc cgaaggtgaa gaaggtgaag ccccagaaac cgaaggccac gaagccgccc 1140 aaagtggtgt cgcagcgcgg ctggcgacat tgggtgcatg cgttgacgcg aatcaacctg 1200 ggcctgtcac ccgacgagaa gtacgagctg gacctgcacg ctcgagtccg ccgcaatccc 1260 cgcgggtcgt atcagatcgc cgtcgtcggt ctcaaaggtg gggctggcaa aaccacgctg 1320 acagcagcgt tggggtcgac gttggctcag gtgcgggccg accggatcct ggctctagac 1380 gcggatccag gcgccggaaa cctcgccgat cgggtagggc gacaatcggg cgcgaccatc 1440 gctgatgtgc ttgcagaaaa agagctgtcg cactacaacg acatccgcgc acacactagc 1500 gtcaatgcgg tcaatctgga agtgctgccg gcaccggaat acagctcggc gcagcgcgcg 1560 ctcagcgacg ccgactggca tttcatcgcc gatcctgcgt cgaggtttta caacctcgtc 1620 ttggctgatt gtggggccgg cttcttcgac ccgctgaccc gcggcgtgct gtccacggtg 1680 tccggtgtcg tggtcgtggc aagtgtctca atcgacggcg cacaacaggc gtcggtcgcg 1740 ttggactggt tgcgcaacaa cggttaccaa gatttggcga gccgcgcatg cgtggtcatc 1800 aatcacatca tgccgggaga acccaatgtc gcagttaaag acctggtgcg gcatttcgaa 1860 cagcaagttc aacccggccg ggtcgtggtc atgccgtggg acaggcacat tgcggccgga 1920 accgagattt cactcgactt gctcgaccct atctacaagc gcaaggtcct cgaattggcc 1980 gcagcgctat ccgacgattt cgagagggct ggacgtcgtt gagcgcacct gctgttgctg 2040 ctggtcctac 2050 70 666 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 70 Met Ala Ala Asp Tyr Asp Lys Leu Phe Arg Pro His Glu Gly Met Glu 1 5 10 15 Ala Pro Asp Asp Met Ala Ala Gln Pro Phe Phe Asp Pro Ser Ala Ser 20 25 30 Phe Pro Pro Ala Pro Ala Ser Ala Asn Leu Pro Lys Pro Asn Gly Gln 35 40 45 Thr Pro Pro Pro Thr Ser Asp Asp Leu Ser Glu Arg Phe Val Ser Ala 50 55 60 Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Pro Thr Pro Met 65 70 75 80 Pro Ile Ala Ala Gly Glu Pro Pro Ser Pro Glu Pro Ala Ala Ser Lys 85 90 95 Pro Pro Thr Pro Pro Met Pro Ile Ala Gly Pro Glu Pro Ala Pro Pro 100 105 110 Lys Pro Pro Thr Pro Pro Met Pro Ile Ala Gly Pro Glu Pro Ala Pro 115 120 125 Pro Lys Pro Pro Thr Pro Pro Met Pro Ile Ala Gly Pro Ala Pro Thr 130 135 140 Pro Thr Glu Ser Gln Leu Ala Pro Pro Arg Pro Pro Thr Pro Gln Thr 145 150 155 160 Pro Thr Gly Ala Pro Gln Gln Pro Glu Ser Pro Ala Pro His Val Pro 165 170 175 Ser His Gly Pro His Gln Pro Arg Arg Thr Ala Pro Ala Pro Pro Trp 180 185 190 Ala Lys Met Pro Ile Gly Glu Pro Pro Pro Ala Pro Ser Arg Pro Ser 195 200 205 Ala Ser Pro Ala Glu Pro Pro Thr Arg Pro Ala Pro Gln His Ser Arg 210 215 220 Arg Ala Arg Arg Gly His Arg Tyr Arg Thr Asp Thr Glu Arg Asn Val 225 230 235 240 Gly Lys Val Ala Thr Gly Pro Ser Ile Gln Ala Arg Leu Arg Ala Glu 245 250 255 Glu Ala Ser Gly Ala Gln Leu Ala Pro Gly Thr Glu Pro Ser Pro Ala 260 265 270 Pro Leu Gly Gln Pro Arg Ser Tyr Leu Ala Pro Pro Thr Arg Pro Ala 275 280 285 Pro Thr Glu Pro Pro Pro Ser Pro Ser Pro Gln Arg Asn Ser Gly Arg 290 295 300 Arg Ala Glu Arg Arg Val His Pro Asp Leu Ala Ala Gln His Ala Ala 305 310 315 320 Ala Gln Pro Asp Ser Ile Thr Ala Ala Thr Thr Gly Gly Arg Arg Arg 325 330 335 Lys Arg Ala Ala Pro Asp Leu Asp Ala Thr Gln Lys Ser Leu Arg Pro 340 345 350 Ala Ala Lys Gly Pro Lys Val Lys Lys Val Lys Pro Gln Lys Pro Lys 355 360 365 Ala Thr Lys Pro Pro Lys Val Val Ser Gln Arg Gly Trp Arg His Trp 370 375 380 Val His Ala Leu Thr Arg Ile Asn Leu Gly Leu Ser Pro Asp Glu Lys 385 390 395 400 Tyr Glu Leu Asp Leu His Ala Arg Val Arg Arg Asn Pro Arg Gly Ser 405 410 415 Tyr Gln Ile Ala Val Val Gly Leu Lys Gly Gly Ala Gly Lys Thr Thr 420 425 430 Leu Thr Ala Ala Leu Gly Ser Thr Leu Ala Gln Val Arg Ala Asp Arg 435 440 445 Ile Leu Ala Leu Asp Ala Asp Pro Gly Ala Gly Asn Leu Ala Asp Arg 450 455 460 Val Gly Arg Gln Ser Gly Ala Thr Ile Ala Asp Val Leu Ala Glu Lys 465 470 475 480 Glu Leu Ser His Tyr Asn Asp Ile Arg Ala His Thr Ser Val Asn Ala 485 490 495 Val Asn Leu Glu Val Leu Pro Ala Pro Glu Tyr Ser Ser Ala Gln Arg 500 505 510 Ala Leu Ser Asp Ala Asp Trp His Phe Ile Ala Asp Pro Ala Ser Arg 515 520 525 Phe Tyr Asn Leu Val Leu Ala Asp Cys Gly Ala Gly Phe Phe Asp Pro 530 535 540 Leu Thr Arg Gly Val Leu Ser Thr Val Ser Gly Val Val Val Val Ala 545 550 555 560 Ser Val Ser Ile Asp Gly Ala Gln Gln Ala Ser Val Ala Leu Asp Trp 565 570 575 Leu Arg Asn Asn Gly Tyr Gln Asp Leu Ala Ser Arg Ala Cys Val Val 580 585 590 Ile Asn His Ile Met Pro Gly Glu Pro Asn Val Ala Val Lys Asp Leu 595 600 605 Val Arg His Phe Glu Gln Gln Val Gln Pro Gly Arg Val Val Val Met 610 615 620 Pro Trp Asp Arg His Ile Ala Ala Gly Thr Glu Ile Ser Leu Asp Leu 625 630 635 640 Leu Asp Pro Ile Tyr Lys Arg Lys Val Leu Glu Leu Ala Ala Ala Leu 645 650 655 Ser Asp Asp Phe Glu Arg Ala Gly Arg Arg 660 665 71 1890 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 71 gcagcgatga ggaggagcgg cgccaacggc ccgcgccggc gacgatgcaa agcgcagcga 60 tgaggaggag cggcgcgcat gactgctgaa ccggaagtac ggacgctgcg cgaggttgtg 120 ctggaccagc tcggcactgc tgaatcgcgt gcgtacaaga tgtggctgcc gccgttgacc 180 aatccggtcc cgctcaacga gctcatcgcc cgtgatcggc gacaacccct gcgatttgcc 240 ctggggatca tggatgaacc gcgccgccat ctacaggatg tgtggggcgt agacgtttcc 300 ggggccggcg gcaacatcgg tattgggggc gcacctcaaa ccgggaagtc gacgctactg 360 cagacgatgg tgatgtcggc cgccgccaca cactcaccgc gcaacgttca gttctattgc 420 atcgacctag gtggcggcgg gctgatctat ctcgaaaacc ttccacacgt cggtggggta 480 gccaatcggt ccgagcccga caaggtcaac cgggtggtcg cagagatgca agccgtcatg 540 cggcaacggg aaaccacctt caaggaacac cgagtgggct cgatcgggat gtaccggcag 600 ctgcgtgacg atccaagtca acccgttgcg tccgatccat acggcgacgt ctttctgatc 660 atcgacggat ggcccggttt tgtcggcgag ttccccgacc ttgaggggca ggttcaagat 720 ctggccgccc aggggctggg gttcggcgtc cacgtcatca tctccacgcc acgctggaca 780 gagctgaagt cgcgtgttcg cgactacctc ggcaccaaga tcgagttccg gcttggtgac 840 gtcaatgaaa cccagatcga ccggattacc cgcgagatcc cggcgaatcg tccgggtcgg 900 gcagtgtcga tggaaaagca ccatctgatg atcggcgtgc ccaggttcga cggcgtgcac 960 agcgccgata acctggtgga ggcgatcacc gcgggggtga cgcagatcgc ttcccagcac 1020 accgaacagg cacctccggt gcgggtcctg ccggagcgta tccacctgca cgaactcgac 1080 ccgaacccgc cgggaccaga gtccgactac cgcactcgct gggagattcc gatcggcttg 1140 cgcgagacgg acctgacgcc ggctcactgc cacatgcaca cgaacccgca cctactgatc 1200 ttcggtgcgg ccaaatcggg caagacgacc attgcccacg cgatcgcgcg cgccatttgt 1260 gcccgaaaca gtccccagca ggtgcggttc atgctcgcgg actaccgctc gggcctgctg 1320 gacgcggtgc cggacaccca tctgctgggc gccggcgcga tcaaccgcaa cagcgcgtcg 1380 ctagacgagg ccgctcaagc actggcggtc aacctgaaga agcggttgcc gccgaccgac 1440 ctgacgacgg cgcagctacg ctcgcgttcg tggtggagcg gatttgacgt cgtgcttctg 1500 gtcgacgatt ggcacatgat cgtgggtgcc gccgggggga tgccgccgat ggcaccgctg 1560 gccccgttat tgccggcggc ggcagatatc gggttgcaca tcattgtcac ctgtcagatg 1620 agccaggctt acaaggcaac catggacaag ttcgtcggcg ccgcattcgg gtcgggcgct 1680 ccgacaatgt tcctttcggg cgagaagcag gaattcccat ccagtgagtt caaggtcaag 1740 cggcgccccc ctggccaggc atttctcgtc tcgccagacg gcaaagaggt catccaggcc 1800 ccctacatcg agcctccaga agaagtgttc gcagcacccc caagcgccgg ttaagattat 1860 ttcattgccg gtgtagcagg acccgagctc 1890 72 591 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 72 Met Thr Ala Glu Pro Glu Val Arg Thr Leu Arg Glu Val Val Leu Asp 1 5 10 15 Gln Leu Gly Thr Ala Glu Ser Arg Ala Tyr Lys Met Trp Leu Pro Pro 20 25 30 Leu Thr Asn Pro Val Pro Leu Asn Glu Leu Ile Ala Arg Asp Arg Arg 35 40 45 Gln Pro Leu Arg Phe Ala Leu Gly Ile Met Asp Glu Pro Arg Arg His 50 55 60 Leu Gln Asp Val Trp Gly Val Asp Val Ser Gly Ala Gly Gly Asn Ile 65 70 75 80 Gly Ile Gly Gly Ala Pro Gln Thr Gly Lys Ser Thr Leu Leu Gln Thr 85 90 95 Met Val Met Ser Ala Ala Ala Thr His Ser Pro Arg Asn Val Gln Phe 100 105 110 Tyr Cys Ile Asp Leu Gly Gly Gly Gly Leu Ile Tyr Leu Glu Asn Leu 115 120 125 Pro His Val Gly Gly Val Ala Asn Arg Ser Glu Pro Asp Lys Val Asn 130 135 140 Arg Val Val Ala Glu Met Gln Ala Val Met Arg Gln Arg Glu Thr Thr 145 150 155 160 Phe Lys Glu His Arg Val Gly Ser Ile Gly Met Tyr Arg Gln Leu Arg 165 170 175 Asp Asp Pro Ser Gln Pro Val Ala Ser Asp Pro Tyr Gly Asp Val Phe 180 185 190 Leu Ile Ile Asp Gly Trp Pro Gly Phe Val Gly Glu Phe Pro Asp Leu 195 200 205 Glu Gly Gln Val Gln Asp Leu Ala Ala Gln Gly Leu Gly Phe Gly Val 210 215 220 His Val Ile Ile Ser Thr Pro Arg Trp Thr Glu Leu Lys Ser Arg Val 225 230 235 240 Arg Asp Tyr Leu Gly Thr Lys Ile Glu Phe Arg Leu Gly Asp Val Asn 245 250 255 Glu Thr Gln Ile Asp Arg Ile Thr Arg Glu Ile Pro Ala Asn Arg Pro 260 265 270 Gly Arg Ala Val Ser Met Glu Lys His His Leu Met Ile Gly Val Pro 275 280 285 Arg Phe Asp Gly Val His Ser Ala Asp Asn Leu Val Glu Ala Ile Thr 290 295 300 Ala Gly Val Thr Gln Ile Ala Ser Gln His Thr Glu Gln Ala Pro Pro 305 310 315 320 Val Arg Val Leu Pro Glu Arg Ile His Leu His Glu Leu Asp Pro Asn 325 330 335 Pro Pro Gly Pro Glu Ser Asp Tyr Arg Thr Arg Trp Glu Ile Pro Ile 340 345 350 Gly Leu Arg Glu Thr Asp Leu Thr Pro Ala His Cys His Met His Thr 355 360 365 Asn Pro His Leu Leu Ile Phe Gly Ala Ala Lys Ser Gly Lys Thr Thr 370 375 380 Ile Ala His Ala Ile Ala Arg Ala Ile Cys Ala Arg Asn Ser Pro Gln 385 390 395 400 Gln Val Arg Phe Met Leu Ala Asp Tyr Arg Ser Gly Leu Leu Asp Ala 405 410 415 Val Pro Asp Thr His Leu Leu Gly Ala Gly Ala Ile Asn Arg Asn Ser 420 425 430 Ala Ser Leu Asp Glu Ala Ala Gln Ala Leu Ala Val Asn Leu Lys Lys 435 440 445 Arg Leu Pro Pro Thr Asp Leu Thr Thr Ala Gln Leu Arg Ser Arg Ser 450 455 460 Trp Trp Ser Gly Phe Asp Val Val Leu Leu Val Asp Asp Trp His Met 465 470 475 480 Ile Val Gly Ala Ala Gly Gly Met Pro Pro Met Ala Pro Leu Ala Pro 485 490 495 Leu Leu Pro Ala Ala Ala Asp Ile Gly Leu His Ile Ile Val Thr Cys 500 505 510 Gln Met Ser Gln Ala Tyr Lys Ala Thr Met Asp Lys Phe Val Gly Ala 515 520 525 Ala Phe Gly Ser Gly Ala Pro Thr Met Phe Leu Ser Gly Glu Lys Gln 530 535 540 Glu Phe Pro Ser Ser Glu Phe Lys Val Lys Arg Arg Pro Pro Gly Gln 545 550 555 560 Ala Phe Leu Val Ser Pro Asp Gly Lys Glu Val Ile Gln Ala Pro Tyr 565 570 575 Ile Glu Pro Pro Glu Glu Val Phe Ala Ala Pro Pro Ser Ala Gly 580 585 590 73 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 73 Asp Pro Val Asp Asp Ala Phe Ile Ala Lys Leu Asn Thr Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 74 14 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis MISC_FEATURE (14)..(14) “Xaa” is unknown 74 Asp Pro Val Asp Ala Ile Ile Asn Leu Asp Asn Tyr Gly Xaa 1 5 10 75 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis MISC_FEATURE (5)..(5) “Xaa” is unknown 75 Ala Glu Met Lys Xaa Phe Lys Asn Ala Ile Val Gln Glu Ile Asp 1 5 10 15 76 14 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant (3)..(3) Ala is Ala or Gln 76 Val Ile Ala Gly Met Val Thr His Ile His Xaa Val Ala Gly 1 5 10 77 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 77 Thr Asn Ile Val Val Leu Ile Lys Gln Val Pro Asp Thr Trp Ser 1 5 10 15 78 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 78 Ala Ile Glu Val Ser Val Leu Arg Val Phe Thr Asp Ser Asp Gly 1 5 10 15 79 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 79 Ala Lys Leu Ser Thr Asp Glu Leu Leu Asp Ala Phe Lys Glu Met 1 5 10 15 80 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant (4)..(4) Asp is Asp or Glu 80 Asp Pro Ala Asp Ala Pro Asp Val Pro Thr Ala Ala Gln Leu Thr 1 5 10 15 81 50 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 81 Ala Glu Asp Val Arg Ala Glu Ile Val Ala Ser Val Leu Glu Val Val 1 5 10 15 Val Asn Glu Gly Asp Gln Ile Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Val Val Leu Leu 20 25 30 Glu Ser Met Tyr Met Glu Ile Pro Val Leu Ala Glu Ala Ala Gly Thr 35 40 45 Val Ser 50 82 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 82 Thr Thr Ser Pro Asp Pro Tyr Ala Ala Leu Pro Lys Leu Pro Ser 1 5 10 15 83 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 83 Thr Glu Tyr Glu Gly Pro Lys Thr Lys Phe His Ala Leu Met Gln 1 5 10 15 84 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 84 Thr Thr Ile Val Ala Leu Lys Tyr Pro Gly Gly Val Val Met Ala 1 5 10 15 85 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis MISC_FEATURE (10)..(10) “Xaa” is unknown 85 Ser Phe Pro Tyr Phe Ile Ser Pro Glu Xaa Ala Met Arg Glu Xaa 1 5 10 15 86 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 86 Thr His Tyr Asp Val Val Val Leu Gly Ala Gly Pro Gly Gly Tyr 1 5 10 15 87 450 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 87 agcccggtaa tcgagttcgg gcaatgctga ccatcgggtt tgtttccggc tataaccgaa 60 cggtttgtgt acgggataca aatacaggga gggaagaagt aggcaaatgg aaaaaatgtc 120 acatgatccg atcgctgccg acattggcac gcaagtgagc gacaacgctc tgcacggcgt 180 gacggccggc tcgacggcgc tgacgtcggt gaccgggctg gttcccgcgg gggccgatga 240 ggtctccgcc caagcggcga cggcgttcac atcggagggc atccaattgc tggcttccaa 300 tgcatcggcc caagaccagc tccaccgtgc gggcgaagcg gtccaggacg tcgcccgcac 360 ctattcgcaa atcgacgacg gcgccgccgg cgtcttcgcc taataggccc ccaacacatc 420 ggagggagtg atcaccatgc tgtggcacgc 450 88 98 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 88 Met Glu Lys Met Ser His Asp Pro Ile Ala Ala Asp Ile Gly Thr Gln 1 5 10 15 Val Ser Asp Asn Ala Leu His Gly Val Thr Ala Gly Ser Thr Ala Leu 20 25 30 Thr Ser Val Thr Gly Leu Val Pro Ala Gly Ala Asp Glu Val Ser Ala 35 40 45 Gln Ala Ala Thr Ala Phe Thr Ser Glu Gly Ile Gln Leu Leu Ala Ser 50 55 60 Asn Ala Ser Ala Gln Asp Gln Leu His Arg Ala Gly Glu Ala Val Gln 65 70 75 80 Asp Val Ala Arg Thr Tyr Ser Gln Ile Asp Asp Gly Ala Ala Gly Val 85 90 95 Phe Ala 89 460 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 89 gcaaccggct tttcgatcag ctgagacatc agcggcgtgc gggtcaacga cccacctgcg 60 ccaggtagcg actccgcgcg cagcaggccc gcgcccgcgc tggggcctga tccaccagcc 120 agcggatggt tcgacagcgg actggtgccg agcaggccca tctgcgcggc ttcctcgtcg 180 gctgggttgc cgccgccggt gccgcccacc tggctgaaca acgacgtcac ctgctgcagc 240 ggctgggtca gctgctgcat cgggccgctc atctcaccca gttggccgag ggtctgggta 300 gccgccggcg gcaactggcc aaccggtgtt gagctgccag gggagggcat tccgaagatc 360 gggttcgtcg tgctctggct cgcgccggga tcaaggatcg acgccatcgg ctcgagcttc 420 tcgaaaagcg tgttaaccgc ggtctcggcc tggtagacct 460 90 139 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 90 Met Arg Val Asn Asp Pro Pro Ala Pro Gly Ser Asp Ser Ala Arg Ser 1 5 10 15 Arg Pro Ala Pro Ala Leu Gly Pro Asp Pro Pro Ala Ser Gly Trp Phe 20 25 30 Asp Ser Gly Leu Val Pro Ser Arg Pro Ile Cys Ala Ala Ser Ser Ser 35 40 45 Ala Gly Leu Pro Pro Pro Val Pro Pro Thr Trp Leu Asn Asn Asp Val 50 55 60 Thr Cys Cys Ser Gly Trp Val Ser Cys Cys Ile Gly Pro Leu Ile Ser 65 70 75 80 Pro Ser Trp Pro Arg Val Trp Val Ala Ala Gly Gly Asn Trp Pro Thr 85 90 95 Gly Val Glu Leu Pro Gly Glu Gly Ile Pro Lys Ile Gly Phe Val Val 100 105 110 Leu Trp Leu Ala Pro Gly Ser Arg Ile Asp Ala Ile Gly Ser Ser Phe 115 120 125 Ser Lys Ser Val Leu Thr Ala Val Ser Ala Trp 130 135 91 1200 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 91 taataggccc ccaacacatc ggagggagtg atcaccatgc tgtggcacgc aatgccaccg 60 gagctaaata ccgcacggct gatggccggc gcgggtccgg ctccaatgct tgcggcggcc 120 gcgggatggc agacgctttc ggcggctctg gacgctcagg ccgtcgagtt gaccgcgcgc 180 ctgaactctc tgggagaagc ctggactgga ggtggcagcg acaaggcgct tgcggctgca 240 acgccgatgg tggtctggct acaaaccgcg tcaacacagg ccaagacccg tgcgatgcag 300 gcgacggcgc aagccgcggc atacacccag gccatggcca cgacgccgtc gctgccggag 360 atcgccgcca accacatcac ccaggccgtc cttacggcca ccaacttctt cggtatcaac 420 acgatcccga tcgcgttgac cgagatggat tatttcatcc gtatgtggaa ccaggcagcc 480 ctggcaatgg aggtctacca ggccgagacc gcggttaaca cgcttttcga gaagctcgag 540 ccgatggcgt cgatccttga tcccggcgcg agccagagca cgacgaaccc gatcttcgga 600 atgccctccc ctggcagctc aacaccggtt ggccagttgc cgccggcggc tacccagacc 660 ctcggccaac tgggtgagat gagcggcccg atgcagcagc tgacccagcc gctgcagcag 720 gtgacgtcgt tgttcagcca ggtgggcggc accggcggcg gcaacccagc cgacgaggaa 780 gccgcgcaga tgggcctgct cggcaccagt ccgctgtcga accatccgct ggctggtgga 840 tcaggcccca gcgcgggcgc gggcctgctg cgcgcggagt cgctacctgg cgcaggtggg 900 tcgttgaccc gcacgccgct gatgtctcag ctgatcgaaa agccggttgc cccctcggtg 960 atgccggcgg ctgctgccgg atcgtcggcg acgggtggcg ccgctccggt gggtgcggga 1020 gcgatgggcc agggtgcgca atccggcggc tccaccaggc cgggtctggt cgcgccggca 1080 ccgctcgcgc aggagcgtga agaagacgac gaggacgact gggacgaaga ggacgactgg 1140 tgagctcccg taatgacaac agacttcccg gccacccggg ccggaagact tgccaacatt 1200 92 371 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 92 Met Ile Thr Met Leu Trp His Ala Met Pro Pro Glu Leu Asn Thr Ala 1 5 10 15 Arg Leu Met Ala Gly Ala Gly Pro Ala Pro Met Leu Ala Ala Ala Ala 20 25 30 Gly Trp Gln Thr Leu Ser Ala Ala Leu Asp Ala Gln Ala Val Glu Leu 35 40 45 Thr Ala Arg Leu Asn Ser Leu Gly Glu Ala Trp Thr Gly Gly Gly Ser 50 55 60 Asp Lys Ala Leu Ala Ala Ala Thr Pro Met Val Val Trp Leu Gln Thr 65 70 75 80 Ala Ser Thr Gln Ala Lys Thr Arg Ala Met Gln Ala Thr Ala Gln Ala 85 90 95 Ala Ala Tyr Thr Gln Ala Met Ala Thr Thr Pro Ser Leu Pro Glu Ile 100 105 110 Ala Ala Asn His Ile Thr Gln Ala Val Leu Thr Ala Thr Asn Phe Phe 115 120 125 Gly Ile Asn Thr Ile Pro Ile Ala Leu Thr Glu Met Asp Tyr Phe Ile 130 135 140 Arg Met Trp Asn Gln Ala Ala Leu Ala Met Glu Val Tyr Gln Ala Glu 145 150 155 160 Thr Ala Val Asn Thr Leu Phe Glu Lys Leu Glu Pro Met Ala Ser Ile 165 170 175 Leu Asp Pro Gly Ala Ser Gln Ser Thr Thr Asn Pro Ile Phe Gly Met 180 185 190 Pro Ser Pro Gly Ser Ser Thr Pro Val Gly Gln Leu Pro Pro Ala Ala 195 200 205 Thr Gln Thr Leu Gly Gln Leu Gly Glu Met Ser Gly Pro Met Gln Gln 210 215 220 Leu Thr Gln Pro Leu Gln Gln Val Thr Ser Leu Phe Ser Gln Val Gly 225 230 235 240 Gly Thr Gly Gly Gly Asn Pro Ala Asp Glu Glu Ala Ala Gln Met Gly 245 250 255 Leu Leu Gly Thr Ser Pro Leu Ser Asn His Pro Leu Ala Gly Gly Ser 260 265 270 Gly Pro Ser Ala Gly Ala Gly Leu Leu Arg Ala Glu Ser Leu Pro Gly 275 280 285 Ala Gly Gly Ser Leu Thr Arg Thr Pro Leu Met Ser Gln Leu Ile Glu 290 295 300 Lys Pro Val Ala Pro Ser Val Met Pro Ala Ala Ala Ala Gly Ser Ser 305 310 315 320 Ala Thr Gly Gly Ala Ala Pro Val Gly Ala Gly Ala Met Gly Gln Gly 325 330 335 Ala Gln Ser Gly Gly Ser Thr Arg Pro Gly Leu Val Ala Pro Ala Pro 340 345 350 Leu Ala Gln Glu Arg Glu Glu Asp Asp Glu Asp Asp Trp Asp Glu Glu 355 360 365 Asp Asp Trp 370 93 1000 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 93 gacgcgacac agaaatcctt aaggccggcg gccaaggggc cgaaggtgaa gaaggtgaag 60 ccccagaaac cgaaggccac gaagccgccc aaagtggtgt cgcagcgcgg ctggcgacat 120 tgggtgcatg cgttgacgcg aatcaacctg ggcctgtcac ccgacgagaa gtacgagctg 180 gacctgcacg ctcgagtccg ccgcaatccc cgcgggtcgt atcagatcgc cgtcgtcggt 240 ctcaaaggtg gggctggcaa aaccacgctg acagcagcgt tggggtcgac gttggctcag 300 gtgcgggccg accggatcct ggctctagac gcggatccag gcgccggaaa cctcgccgat 360 cgggtagggc gacaatcggg cgcgaccatc gctgatgtgc ttgcagaaaa agagctgtcg 420 cactacaacg acatccgcgc acacactagc gtcaatgcgg tcaatctgga agtgctgccg 480 gcaccggaat acagctcggc gcagcgcgcg ctcagcgacg ccgactggca tttcatcgcc 540 gatcctgcgt cgaggtttta caacctcgtc ttggctgatt gtggggccgg cttcttcgac 600 ccgctgaccc gcggcgtgct gtccacggtg tccggtgtcg tggtcgtggc aagtgtctca 660 atcgacggcg cacaacaggc gtcggtcgcg ttggactggt tgcgcaacaa cggttaccaa 720 gatttggcga gccgcgcatg cgtggtcatc aatcacatca tgccgggaga acccaatgtc 780 gcagttaaag acctggtgcg gcatttcgaa cagcaagttc aacccggccg ggtcgtggtc 840 atgccgtggg acaggcacat tgcggccgga accgagattt cactcgactt gctcgaccct 900 atctacaagc gcaaggtcct cgaattggcc gcagcgctat ccgacgattt cgagagggct 960 ggacgtcgtt gagcgcacct gctgttgctg ctggtcctac 1000 94 308 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 94 Met Lys Lys Val Lys Pro Gln Lys Pro Lys Ala Thr Lys Pro Pro Lys 1 5 10 15 Val Val Ser Gln Arg Gly Trp Arg His Trp Val His Ala Leu Thr Arg 20 25 30 Ile Asn Leu Gly Leu Ser Pro Asp Glu Lys Tyr Glu Leu Asp Leu His 35 40 45 Ala Arg Val Arg Arg Asn Pro Arg Gly Ser Tyr Gln Ile Ala Val Val 50 55 60 Gly Leu Lys Gly Gly Ala Gly Lys Thr Thr Leu Thr Ala Ala Leu Gly 65 70 75 80 Ser Thr Leu Ala Gln Val Arg Ala Asp Arg Ile Leu Ala Leu Asp Ala 85 90 95 Asp Pro Gly Ala Gly Asn Leu Ala Asp Arg Val Gly Arg Gln Ser Gly 100 105 110 Ala Thr Ile Ala Asp Val Leu Ala Glu Lys Glu Leu Ser His Tyr Asn 115 120 125 Asp Ile Arg Ala His Thr Ser Val Asn Ala Val Asn Leu Glu Val Leu 130 135 140 Pro Ala Pro Glu Tyr Ser Ser Ala Gln Arg Ala Leu Ser Asp Ala Asp 145 150 155 160 Trp His Phe Ile Ala Asp Pro Ala Ser Arg Phe Tyr Asn Leu Val Leu 165 170 175 Ala Asp Cys Gly Ala Gly Phe Phe Asp Pro Leu Thr Arg Gly Val Leu 180 185 190 Ser Thr Val Ser Gly Val Val Val Val Ala Ser Val Ser Ile Asp Gly 195 200 205 Ala Gln Gln Ala Ser Val Ala Leu Asp Trp Leu Arg Asn Asn Gly Tyr 210 215 220 Gln Asp Leu Ala Ser Arg Ala Cys Val Val Ile Asn His Ile Met Pro 225 230 235 240 Gly Glu Pro Asn Val Ala Val Lys Asp Leu Val Arg His Phe Glu Gln 245 250 255 Gln Val Gln Pro Gly Arg Val Val Val Met Pro Trp Asp Arg His Ile 260 265 270 Ala Ala Gly Thr Glu Ile Ser Leu Asp Leu Leu Asp Pro Ile Tyr Lys 275 280 285 Arg Lys Val Leu Glu Leu Ala Ala Ala Leu Ser Asp Asp Phe Glu Arg 290 295 300 Ala Gly Arg Arg 305 95 34 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 95 aagagtagat ctatgatggc cgaggatgtt cgcg 34 96 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 96 cggcgacgac ggatcctacc gcgtcgg 27 97 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 97 ccttgggaga tctttggacc ccggttgc 28 98 25 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 98 gacgagatct tatgggctta ctgac 25 99 33 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 99 ccccccagat ctgcaccacc ggcatcggcg ggc 33 100 24 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 100 gcggcggatc cgttgcttag ccgg 24 101 32 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 101 ccggctgaga tctatgacag aatacgaagg gc 32 102 24 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 102 ccccgccagg gaactagagg cggc 24 103 38 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 103 ctgccgagat ctaccaccat tgtcgcgctg aaataccc 38 104 25 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 104 cgccatggcc ttacgcgcca actcg 25 105 32 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 105 ggcggagatc tgtgagtttt ccgtatttca tc 32 106 25 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 106 cgcgtcgagc catggttagg cgcag 25 107 32 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 107 gaggaagatc tatgacaact tcacccgacc cg 32 108 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 108 catgaagcca tggcccgcag gctgcatg 28 109 33 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 109 ggccgagatc tgtgacccac tatgacgtcg tcg 33 110 36 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 110 ggcgcccatg gtcagaaatt gatcatgtgg ccaacc 36 111 33 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 111 ccgggagatc tatggcaaag ctctccaccg acg 33 112 32 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 112 cgctgggcag agctacttga cggtgacggt gg 32 113 36 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 113 ggcccagatc tatggccatt gaggtttcgg tgttgc 36 114 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 114 cgccgtgttg catggcagcg ctgagc 26 115 24 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 115 ggacgttcaa gcgacacatc gccg 24 116 24 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 116 cagcacgaac gcgccgtcga tggc 24 117 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 117 acagatctgt gacggacatg aacccg 26 118 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 118 ttttccatgg tcacgggccc ccggtact 28 119 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 119 acagatctgt gcccatggca cagata 26 120 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 120 tttaagcttc taggcgccca gcgcggc 27 121 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 121 acagatctgc gcatgcggat ccgtgt 26 122 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 122 ttttccatgg tcatccggcg tgatcgag 28 123 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 123 acagatctgt aatggcagac tgtgat 26 124 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 124 ttttccatgg tcaggagatg gtgatcga 28 125 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 125 acagatctgc cggctacccc ggtgcc 26 126 28 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 126 ttttccatgg ctattgcagc tttccggc 28 127 50 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 127 Ala Glu Asp Val Arg Ala Glu Ile Val Ala Ser Val Leu Glu Val Val 1 5 10 15 Val Asn Glu Gly Asp Gln Ile Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Val Val Leu Leu 20 25 30 Glu Ser Met Tyr Met Glu Ile Pro Val Leu Ala Glu Ala Ala Gly Thr 35 40 45 Val Ser 50 128 49 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 128 Ala Glu Asp Val Arg Ala Glu Ile Val Ala Ser Val Leu Glu Val Val 1 5 10 15 Val Asn Glu Gly Asp Gln Ile Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Val Val Leu Leu 20 25 30 Glu Ser Met Met Glu Ile Pro Val Leu Ala Glu Ala Ala Gly Thr Val 35 40 45 Ser 129 50 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 129 Ala Glu Asp Val Arg Ala Glu Ile Val Ala Ser Val Leu Glu Val Val 1 5 10 15 Val Asn Glu Gly Asp Gln Ile Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Val Val Leu Leu 20 25 30 Glu Ser Met Lys Met Glu Ile Pro Val Leu Ala Glu Ala Ala Gly Thr 35 40 45 Val Ser 50 130 33 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 130 ccgggagatc tatggcaaag ctctccaccg acg 33 131 32 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 131 cgctgggcag agctacttga cggtgacggt gg 32 132 36 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 132 ggcgccggca agcttgccat gacagagcag cagtgg 36 133 26 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 133 cgaactcgcc ggatcccgtg tttcgc 26 134 32 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 134 ggcaaccgcg agatctttct cccggccggg gc 32 135 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 135 ggcaagcttg ccggcgccta acgaact 27 136 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 136 ggacccagat ctatgacaga gcagcagtgg 30 137 47 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 137 ccggcagccc cggccgggag aaaagctttg cgaacatccc agtgacg 47 138 44 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 138 gttcgcaaag cttttctccc ggccggggct gccggtcgag tacc 44 139 20 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 139 ccttcggtgg atcccgtcag 20 140 450 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 140 tggcgctgtc accgaggaac ctgtcaatgt cgtcgagcag tactgaaccg ttccgagaaa 60 ggccagcatg aacgtcaccg tatccattcc gaccatcctg cggccccaca ccggcggcca 120 gaagagtgtc tcggccagcg gcgatacctt gggtgccgtc atcagcgacc tggaggccaa 180 ctattcgggc atttccgagc gcctgatgga cccgtcttcc ccaggtaagt tgcaccgctt 240 cgtgaacatc tacgtcaacg acgaggacgt gcggttctcc ggcggcttgg ccaccgcgat 300 cgctgacggt gactcggtca ccatcctccc cgccgtggcc ggtgggtgag cggagcacat 360 gacacgatac gactcgctgt tgcaggcctt gggcaacacg ccgctggttg gcctgcagcg 420 attgtcgcca cgctgggatg acgggcgaga 450 141 93 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 141 Met Asn Val Thr Val Ser Ile Pro Thr Ile Leu Arg Pro His Thr Gly 1 5 10 15 Gly Gln Lys Ser Val Ser Ala Ser Gly Asp Thr Leu Gly Ala Val Ile 20 25 30 Ser Asp Leu Glu Ala Asn Tyr Ser Gly Ile Ser Glu Arg Leu Met Asp 35 40 45 Pro Ser Ser Pro Gly Lys Leu His Arg Phe Val Asn Ile Tyr Val Asn 50 55 60 Asp Glu Asp Val Arg Phe Ser Gly Gly Leu Ala Thr Ala Ile Ala Asp 65 70 75 80 Gly Asp Ser Val Thr Ile Leu Pro Ala Val Ala Gly Gly 85 90 142 480 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 142 ggtgttcccg cggccggcta tgacaacagt caatgtgcat gacaagttac aggtattagg 60 tccaggttca acaaggagac aggcaacatg gcaacacgtt ttatgacgga tccgcacgcg 120 atgcgggaca tggcgggccg ttttgaggtg cacgcccaga cggtggagga cgaggctcgc 180 cggatgtggg cgtccgcgca aaacatctcg ggcgcgggct ggagtggcat ggccgaggcg 240 acctcgctag acaccatggc ccagatgaat caggcgtttc gcaacatcgt gaacatgctg 300 cacggggtgc gtgacgggct ggttcgcgac gccaacaact acgagcagca agagcaggcc 360 tcccagcaga tcctcagcag ctaacgtcag ccgctgcagc acaatacttt tacaagcgaa 420 ggagaacagg ttcgatgacc atcaactatc agttcggtga tgtcgacgct catggcgcca 480 143 98 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 143 Met Ala Thr Arg Phe Met Thr Asp Pro His Ala Met Arg Asp Met Ala 1 5 10 15 Gly Arg Phe Glu Val His Ala Gln Thr Val Glu Asp Glu Ala Arg Arg 20 25 30 Met Trp Ala Ser Ala Gln Asn Ile Ser Gly Ala Gly Trp Ser Gly Met 35 40 45 Ala Glu Ala Thr Ser Leu Asp Thr Met Ala Gln Met Asn Gln Ala Phe 50 55 60 Arg Asn Ile Val Asn Met Leu His Gly Val Arg Asp Gly Leu Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Asp Ala Asn Asn Tyr Glu Gln Gln Glu Gln Ala Ser Gln Gln Ile Leu 85 90 95 Ser Ser 144 940 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 144 gccccagtcc tcgatcgcct catcgccttc accggccgcc agccgaccgc aggccacgtg 60 tccgccacct aacgaaagga tgatcatgcc caagagaagc gaatacaggc aaggcacgcc 120 gaactgggtc gaccttcaga ccaccgatca gtccgccgcc aaaaagttct acacatcgtt 180 gttcggctgg ggttacgacg acaacccggt ccccggaggc ggtggggtct attccatggc 240 cacgctgaac ggcgaagccg tggccgccat cgcaccgatg cccccgggtg caccggaggg 300 gatgccgccg atctggaaca cctatatcgc ggtggacgac gtcgatgcgg tggtggacaa 360 ggtggtgccc gggggcgggc aggtgatgat gccggccttc gacatcggcg atgccggccg 420 gatgtcgttc atcaccgatc cgaccggcgc tgccgtgggc ctatggcagg ccaatcggca 480 catcggagcg acgttggtca acgagacggg cacgctcatc tggaacgaac tgctcacgga 540 caagccggat ttggcgctag cgttctacga ggctgtggtt ggcctcaccc actcgagcat 600 ggagatagct gcgggccaga actatcgggt gctcaaggcc ggcgacgcgg aagtcggcgg 660 ctgtatggaa ccgccgatgc ccggcgtgcc gaatcattgg cacgtctact ttgcggtgga 720 tgacgccgac gccacggcgg ccaaagccgc cgcagcgggc ggccaggtca ttgcggaacc 780 ggctgacatt ccgtcggtgg gccggttcgc cgtgttgtcc gatccgcagg gcgcgatctt 840 cagtgtgttg aagcccgcac cgcagcaata gggagcatcc cgggcaggcc cgccggccgg 900 cagattcgga gaatgctaga agctgccgcc ggcgccgccg 940 145 261 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 145 Met Pro Lys Arg Ser Glu Tyr Arg Gln Gly Thr Pro Asn Trp Val Asp 1 5 10 15 Leu Gln Thr Thr Asp Gln Ser Ala Ala Lys Lys Phe Tyr Thr Ser Leu 20 25 30 Phe Gly Trp Gly Tyr Asp Asp Asn Pro Val Pro Gly Gly Gly Gly Val 35 40 45 Tyr Ser Met Ala Thr Leu Asn Gly Glu Ala Val Ala Ala Ile Ala Pro 50 55 60 Met Pro Pro Gly Ala Pro Glu Gly Met Pro Pro Ile Trp Asn Thr Tyr 65 70 75 80 Ile Ala Val Asp Asp Val Asp Ala Val Val Asp Lys Val Val Pro Gly 85 90 95 Gly Gly Gln Val Met Met Pro Ala Phe Asp Ile Gly Asp Ala Gly Arg 100 105 110 Met Ser Phe Ile Thr Asp Pro Thr Gly Ala Ala Val Gly Leu Trp Gln 115 120 125 Ala Asn Arg His Ile Gly Ala Thr Leu Val Asn Glu Thr Gly Thr Leu 130 135 140 Ile Trp Asn Glu Leu Leu Thr Asp Lys Pro Asp Leu Ala Leu Ala Phe 145 150 155 160 Tyr Glu Ala Val Val Gly Leu Thr His Ser Ser Met Glu Ile Ala Ala 165 170 175 Gly Gln Asn Tyr Arg Val Leu Lys Ala Gly Asp Ala Glu Val Gly Gly 180 185 190 Cys Met Glu Pro Pro Met Pro Gly Val Pro Asn His Trp His Val Tyr 195 200 205 Phe Ala Val Asp Asp Ala Asp Ala Thr Ala Ala Lys Ala Ala Ala Ala 210 215 220 Gly Gly Gln Val Ile Ala Glu Pro Ala Asp Ile Pro Ser Val Gly Arg 225 230 235 240 Phe Ala Val Leu Ser Asp Pro Gln Gly Ala Ile Phe Ser Val Leu Lys 245 250 255 Pro Ala Pro Gln Gln 260 146 280 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 146 ccgaaaggcg gtgcaccgca cccagaagaa aaggaaagat cgagaaatgc cacagggaac 60 tgtgaagtgg ttcaacgcgg agaaggggtt cggctttatc gcccccgaag acggttccgc 120 ggatgtattt gtccactaca cggagatcca gggaacgggc ttccgcaccc ttgaagaaaa 180 ccagaaggtc gagttcgaga tcggccacag ccctaagggc ccccaggcca ccggagtccg 240 ctcgctctga gttacccccg cgagcagacg caaaaagccc 280 147 67 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 147 Met Pro Gln Gly Thr Val Lys Trp Phe Asn Ala Glu Lys Gly Phe Gly 1 5 10 15 Phe Ile Ala Pro Glu Asp Gly Ser Ala Asp Val Phe Val His Tyr Thr 20 25 30 Glu Ile Gln Gly Thr Gly Phe Arg Thr Leu Glu Glu Asn Gln Lys Val 35 40 45 Glu Phe Glu Ile Gly His Ser Pro Lys Gly Pro Gln Ala Thr Gly Val 50 55 60 Arg Ser Leu 65 148 540 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 148 atcgtgtcgt atcgagaacc ccggccggta tcagaacgcg ccagagcgca aacctttata 60 acttcgtgtc ccaaatgtga cgaccatgga ccaaggttcc tgagatgaac ctacggcgcc 120 atcagaccct gacgctgcga ctgctggcgg catccgcggg cattctcagc gccgcggcct 180 tcgccgcgcc agcacaggca aaccccgtcg acgacgcgtt catcgccgcg ctgaacaatg 240 ccggcgtcaa ctacggcgat ccggtcgacg ccaaagcgct gggtcagtcc gtctgcccga 300 tcctggccga gcccggcggg tcgtttaaca ccgcggtagc cagcgttgtg gcgcgcgccc 360 aaggcatgtc ccaggacatg gcgcaaacct tcaccagtat cgcgatttcg atgtactgcc 420 cctcggtgat ggcagacgtc gccagcggca acctgccggc cctgccagac atgccggggc 480 tgcccgggtc ctaggcgtgc gcggctccta gccggtccct aacggatcga tcgtggatgc 540 149 129 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 149 Met Asn Leu Arg Arg His Gln Thr Leu Thr Leu Arg Leu Leu Ala Ala 1 5 10 15 Ser Ala Gly Ile Leu Ser Ala Ala Ala Phe Ala Ala Pro Ala Gln Ala 20 25 30 Asn Pro Val Asp Asp Ala Phe Ile Ala Ala Leu Asn Asn Ala Gly Val 35 40 45 Asn Tyr Gly Asp Pro Val Asp Ala Lys Ala Leu Gly Gln Ser Val Cys 50 55 60 Pro Ile Leu Ala Glu Pro Gly Gly Ser Phe Asn Thr Ala Val Ala Ser 65 70 75 80 Val Val Ala Arg Ala Gln Gly Met Ser Gln Asp Met Ala Gln Thr Phe 85 90 95 Thr Ser Ile Ala Ile Ser Met Tyr Cys Pro Ser Val Met Ala Asp Val 100 105 110 Ala Ser Gly Asn Leu Pro Ala Leu Pro Asp Met Pro Gly Leu Pro Gly 115 120 125 Ser 150 400 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 150 atagtttggg gaaggtgtcc ataaatgagg ctgtcgttga ccgcattgag cgccggtgta 60 ggcgccgtgg caatgtcgtt gaccgtcggg gccggggtcg cctccgcaga tcccgtggac 120 gcggtcatta acaccacctg caattacggg caggtagtag ctgcgctcaa cgcgacggat 180 ccgggggctg ccgcacagtt caacgcctca ccggtggcgc agtcctattt gcgcaatttc 240 ctcgccgcac cgccacctca gcgcgctgcc atggccgcgc aattgcaagc tgtgccgggg 300 gcggcacagt acatcggcct tgtcgagtcg gttgccggct cctgcaacaa ctattaagcc 360 catgcgggcc ccatcccgcg acccggcatc gtcgccgggg 400 151 110 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 151 Met Arg Leu Ser Leu Thr Ala Leu Ser Ala Gly Val Gly Ala Val Ala 1 5 10 15 Met Ser Leu Thr Val Gly Ala Gly Val Ala Ser Ala Asp Pro Val Asp 20 25 30 Ala Val Ile Asn Thr Thr Cys Asn Tyr Gly Gln Val Val Ala Ala Leu 35 40 45 Asn Ala Thr Asp Pro Gly Ala Ala Ala Gln Phe Asn Ala Ser Pro Val 50 55 60 Ala Gln Ser Tyr Leu Arg Asn Phe Leu Ala Ala Pro Pro Pro Gln Arg 65 70 75 80 Ala Ala Met Ala Ala Gln Leu Gln Ala Val Pro Gly Ala Ala Gln Tyr 85 90 95 Ile Gly Leu Val Glu Ser Val Ala Gly Ser Cys Asn Asn Tyr 100 105 110 152 990 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 152 aatagtaata tcgctgtgcg gttgcaaaac gtgtgaccga ggttccgcag tcgagcgctg 60 cgggccgcct tcgaggagga cgaaccacag tcatgacgaa catcgtggtc ctgatcaagc 120 aggtcccaga tacctggtcg gagcgcaagc tgaccgacgg cgatttcacg ctggaccgcg 180 aggccgccga cgcggtgctg gacgagatca acgagcgcgc cgtggaggaa gcgctacaga 240 ttcgggagaa agaggccgcc gacggcatcg aagggtcggt aaccgtgctg acggcgggcc 300 ccgagcgcgc caccgaggcg atccgcaagg cgctgtcgat gggtgccgac aaggccgtcc 360 acctaaagga cgacggcatg cacggctcgg acgtcatcca aaccgggtgg gctttggcgc 420 gcgcgttggg caccatcgag ggcaccgagc tggtgatcgc aggcaacgaa tcgaccgacg 480 gggtgggcgg tgcggtgccg gccatcatcg ccgagtacct gggcctgccg cagctcaccc 540 acctgcgcaa agtgtcgatc gagggcggca agatcaccgg cgagcgtgag accgatgagg 600 gcgtattcac cctcgaggcc acgctgcccg cggtgatcag cgtgaacgag aagatcaacg 660 agccgcgctt cccgtccttc aaaggcatca tggccgccaa gaagaaggaa gttaccgtgc 720 tgaccctggc cgagatcggt gtcgagagcg acgaggtggg gctggccaac gccggatcca 780 ccgtgctggc gtcgacgccc aaaccggcca agactgccgg ggagaaggtc accgacgagg 840 gtgaaggcgg caaccagatc gtgcagtacc tggttgccca gaaaatcatc taagacatac 900 gcacctccca aagacgagag cgatataacc catggctgaa gtactggtgc tcgttgagca 960 cgctgaaggc gcgttaaaga aggtcagcgc 990 153 266 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 153 Met Thr Asn Ile Val Val Leu Ile Lys Gln Val Pro Asp Thr Trp Ser 1 5 10 15 Glu Arg Lys Leu Thr Asp Gly Asp Phe Thr Leu Asp Arg Glu Ala Ala 20 25 30 Asp Ala Val Leu Asp Glu Ile Asn Glu Arg Ala Val Glu Glu Ala Leu 35 40 45 Gln Ile Arg Glu Lys Glu Ala Ala Asp Gly Ile Glu Gly Ser Val Thr 50 55 60 Val Leu Thr Ala Gly Pro Glu Arg Ala Thr Glu Ala Ile Arg Lys Ala 65 70 75 80 Leu Ser Met Gly Ala Asp Lys Ala Val His Leu Lys Asp Asp Gly Met 85 90 95 His Gly Ser Asp Val Ile Gln Thr Gly Trp Ala Leu Ala Arg Ala Leu 100 105 110 Gly Thr Ile Glu Gly Thr Glu Leu Val Ile Ala Gly Asn Glu Ser Thr 115 120 125 Asp Gly Val Gly Gly Ala Val Pro Ala Ile Ile Ala Glu Tyr Leu Gly 130 135 140 Leu Pro Gln Leu Thr His Leu Arg Lys Val Ser Ile Glu Gly Gly Lys 145 150 155 160 Ile Thr Gly Glu Arg Glu Thr Asp Glu Gly Val Phe Thr Leu Glu Ala 165 170 175 Thr Leu Pro Ala Val Ile Ser Val Asn Glu Lys Ile Asn Glu Pro Arg 180 185 190 Phe Pro Ser Phe Lys Gly Ile Met Ala Ala Lys Lys Lys Glu Val Thr 195 200 205 Val Leu Thr Leu Ala Glu Ile Gly Val Glu Ser Asp Glu Val Gly Leu 210 215 220 Ala Asn Ala Gly Ser Thr Val Leu Ala Ser Thr Pro Lys Pro Ala Lys 225 230 235 240 Thr Ala Gly Glu Lys Val Thr Asp Glu Gly Glu Gly Gly Asn Gln Ile 245 250 255 Val Gln Tyr Leu Val Ala Gln Lys Ile Ile 260 265 154 25 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 154 ctgagatcta tgaacctacg gcgcc 25 155 35 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 155 ctcccatggt accctaggac ccgggcagcc ccggc 35 156 29 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 156 ctgagatcta tgaggctgtc gttgaccgc 29 157 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 157 ctccccgggc ttaatagttg ttgcaggagc 30 158 33 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 158 gcttagatct atgattttct gggcaaccag gta 33 159 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 159 gcttccatgg gcgaggcaca ggcgtgggaa 30 160 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 160 ctgagatcta gaatgccaca gggaactgtg 30 161 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 161 tctcccgggg gtaactcaga gcgagcggac 30 162 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 162 ctgagatcta tgaacgtcac cgtatcc 27 163 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 163 tctcccgggg ctcacccacc ggccacg 27 164 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 164 ctgagatcta tggcaacacg ttttatgacg 30 165 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 165 ctccccgggt tagctgctga ggatctgcth 30 166 31 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 166 ctgaagatct atgcccaaga gaagcgaata c 31 167 31 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 167 cggcagctgc tagcattctc cgaatctgcc g 31 168 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 168 Pro Gln Gly Thr Val Lys Trp Phe Asn Ala Glu Lys Gly Phe Gly 1 5 10 15 169 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis misc_feature (15)..(15) “Xaa” is unknown 169 Asn Val Thr Val Ser Ile Pro Thr Ile Leu Arg Pro Xaa Xaa Xaa 1 5 10 15 170 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant (1)..(1) Thr can be Thr or Ala 170 Thr Arg Phe Met Thr Asp Pro His Ala Met Arg Asp Met Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 171 15 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 171 Pro Lys Arg Ser Glu Tyr Arg Gln Gly Thr Pro Asn Trp Val Asp 1 5 10 15 172 404 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 172 Met Ala Thr Val Asn Arg Ser Arg His His His His His His His His 1 5 10 15 Ile Glu Gly Arg Ser Phe Ser Arg Pro Gly Leu Pro Val Glu Tyr Leu 20 25 30 Gln Val Pro Ser Pro Ser Met Gly Arg Asp Ile Lys Val Gln Phe Gln 35 40 45 Ser Gly Gly Asn Asn Ser Pro Ala Val Tyr Leu Leu Asp Gly Leu Arg 50 55 60 Ala Gln Asp Asp Tyr Asn Gly Trp Asp Ile Asn Thr Pro Ala Phe Glu 65 70 75 80 Trp Tyr Tyr Gln Ser Gly Leu Ser Ile Val Met Pro Val Gly Gly Gln 85 90 95 Ser Ser Phe Tyr Ser Asp Trp Tyr Ser Pro Ala Cys Gly Lys Ala Gly 100 105 110 Cys Gln Thr Tyr Lys Trp Glu Thr Phe Leu Thr Ser Glu Leu Pro Gln 115 120 125 Trp Leu Ser Ala Asn Arg Ala Val Lys Pro Thr Gly Ser Ala Ala Ile 130 135 140 Gly Leu Ser Met Ala Gly Ser Ser Ala Met Ile Leu Ala Ala Tyr His 145 150 155 160 Pro Gln Gln Phe Ile Tyr Ala Gly Ser Leu Ser Ala Leu Leu Asp Pro 165 170 175 Ser Gln Gly Met Gly Pro Ser Leu Ile Gly Leu Ala Met Gly Asp Ala 180 185 190 Gly Gly Tyr Lys Ala Ala Asp Met Trp Gly Pro Ser Ser Asp Pro Ala 195 200 205 Trp Glu Arg Asn Asp Pro Thr Gln Gln Ile Pro Lys Leu Val Ala Asn 210 215 220 Asn Thr Arg Leu Trp Val Tyr Cys Gly Asn Gly Thr Pro Asn Glu Leu 225 230 235 240 Gly Gly Ala Asn Ile Pro Ala Glu Phe Leu Glu Asn Phe Val Arg Ser 245 250 255 Ser Asn Leu Lys Phe Gln Asp Ala Tyr Asn Ala Ala Gly Gly His Asn 260 265 270 Ala Val Phe Asn Phe Pro Pro Asn Gly Thr His Ser Trp Glu Tyr Trp 275 280 285 Gly Ala Gln Leu Asn Ala Met Lys Gly Asp Leu Gln Ser Ser Leu Gly 290 295 300 Ala Gly Lys Leu Ala Met Thr Glu Gln Gln Trp Asn Phe Ala Gly Ile 305 310 315 320 Glu Ala Ala Ala Ser Ala Ile Gln Gly Asn Val Thr Ser Ile His Ser 325 330 335 Leu Leu Asp Glu Gly Lys Gln Ser Leu Thr Lys Leu Ala Ala Ala Trp 340 345 350 Gly Gly Ser Gly Ser Glu Ala Tyr Gln Gly Val Gln Gln Lys Trp Asp 355 360 365 Ala Thr Ala Thr Glu Leu Asn Asn Ala Leu Gln Asn Leu Ala Arg Thr 370 375 380 Ile Ser Glu Ala Gly Gln Ala Met Ala Ser Thr Glu Gly Asn Val Thr 385 390 395 400 Gly Met Phe Ala 173 403 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 173 Met Ala Thr Val Asn Arg Ser Arg His His His His His His His His 1 5 10 15 Ile Glu Gly Arg Ser Met Thr Glu Gln Gln Trp Asn Phe Ala Gly Ile 20 25 30 Glu Ala Ala Ala Ser Ala Ile Gln Gly Asn Val Thr Ser Ile His Ser 35 40 45 Leu Leu Asp Glu Gly Lys Gln Ser Leu Thr Lys Leu Ala Ala Ala Trp 50 55 60 Gly Gly Ser Gly Ser Glu Ala Tyr Gln Gly Val Gln Gln Lys Trp Asp 65 70 75 80 Ala Thr Ala Thr Glu Leu Asn Asn Ala Leu Gln Asn Leu Ala Arg Thr 85 90 95 Ile Ser Glu Ala Gly Gln Ala Met Ala Ser Thr Glu Gly Asn Val Thr 100 105 110 Gly Met Phe Ala Lys Leu Phe Ser Arg Pro Gly Leu Pro Val Glu Tyr 115 120 125 Leu Gln Val Pro Ser Pro Ser Met Gly Arg Asp Ile Lys Val Gln Phe 130 135 140 Gln Ser Gly Gly Asn Asn Ser Pro Ala Val Tyr Leu Leu Asp Gly Leu 145 150 155 160 Arg Ala Gln Asp Asp Tyr Asn Gly Trp Asp Ile Asn Thr Pro Ala Phe 165 170 175 Glu Trp Tyr Tyr Gln Ser Gly Leu Ser Ile Val Met Pro Val Gly Gly 180 185 190 Gln Ser Ser Phe Tyr Ser Asp Trp Tyr Ser Pro Ala Cys Gly Lys Ala 195 200 205 Gly Cys Gln Thr Tyr Lys Trp Glu Thr Phe Leu Thr Ser Glu Leu Pro 210 215 220 Gln Trp Leu Ser Ala Asn Arg Ala Val Lys Pro Thr Gly Ser Ala Ala 225 230 235 240 Ile Gly Leu Ser Met Ala Gly Ser Ser Ala Met Ile Leu Ala Ala Tyr 245 250 255 His Pro Gln Gln Phe Ile Tyr Ala Gly Ser Leu Ser Ala Leu Leu Asp 260 265 270 Pro Ser Gln Gly Met Gly Pro Ser Leu Ile Gly Leu Ala Met Gly Asp 275 280 285 Ala Gly Gly Tyr Lys Ala Ala Asp Met Trp Gly Pro Ser Ser Asp Pro 290 295 300 Ala Trp Glu Arg Asn Asp Pro Thr Gln Gln Ile Pro Lys Leu Val Ala 305 310 315 320 Asn Asn Thr Arg Leu Trp Val Tyr Cys Gly Asn Gly Thr Pro Asn Glu 325 330 335 Leu Gly Gly Ala Asn Ile Pro Ala Glu Phe Leu Glu Asn Phe Val Arg 340 345 350 Ser Ser Asn Leu Lys Phe Gln Asp Ala Tyr Asn Ala Ala Gly Gly His 355 360 365 Asn Ala Val Phe Asn Phe Pro Pro Asn Gly Thr His Ser Trp Glu Tyr 370 375 380 Trp Gly Ala Gln Leu Asn Ala Met Lys Gly Asp Leu Gln Ser Ser Leu 385 390 395 400 Gly Ala Gly 174 291 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 174 atgtcgcaga ttatgtacaa ctatccggcg atgatggctc atgccgggga catggccggt 60 tatgcgggca cgctgcagag cttgggggcc gatatcgcca gtgagcaggc cgtgctgtcc 120 agtgcttggc agggtgatac cgggatcacg tatcagggct ggcagaccca gtggaaccag 180 gccctagagg atctggtgcg ggcctatcag tcgatgtctg gcacccatga gtccaacacc 240 atggcgatgt tggctcgaga tggggccgaa gccgccaagt ggggcggcta g 291 175 96 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 175 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Met Ala His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile 20 25 30 Ala Ser Glu Gln Ala Val Leu Ser Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly 35 40 45 Ile Thr Tyr Gln Gly Trp Gln Thr Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Leu Glu Asp 50 55 60 Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr Gln Ser Met Ser Gly Thr His Glu Ser Asn Thr 65 70 75 80 Met Ala Met Leu Ala Arg Asp Gly Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 85 90 95 176 363 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 176 gtgtcgcaga gtatgtacag ctacccggcg atgacggcca atgtcggaga catggccggt 60 tatacgggca cgacgcagag cttgggggcc gatatcgcca gtgagcgcac cgcgccgtcg 120 cgtgcttgcc aaggtgatct cgggatgagt catcaggact ggcaggccca gtggaatcag 180 gccatggagg ctctcgcgcg ggcctaccgt cggtgccggc gagcactacg ccagatcggg 240 gtgctggaaa ggccggtagg cgattcgtca gactgcggaa cgattagggt ggggtcgttc 300 cggggtcggt ggctggaccc gcgccatgcg ggtccagcca cggccgccga cgccggagac 360 taa 363 177 120 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 177 Met Ser Gln Ser Met Tyr Ser Tyr Pro Ala Met Thr Ala Asn Val Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Thr Gly Thr Thr Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile 20 25 30 Ala Ser Glu Arg Thr Ala Pro Ser Arg Ala Cys Gln Gly Asp Leu Gly 35 40 45 Met Ser His Gln Asp Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Ala 50 55 60 Leu Ala Arg Ala Tyr Arg Arg Cys Arg Arg Ala Leu Arg Gln Ile Gly 65 70 75 80 Val Leu Glu Arg Pro Val Gly Asp Ser Ser Asp Cys Gly Thr Ile Arg 85 90 95 Val Gly Ser Phe Arg Gly Arg Trp Leu Asp Pro Arg His Ala Gly Pro 100 105 110 Ala Thr Ala Ala Asp Ala Gly Asp 115 120 178 297 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 178 atggcctcgc gttttatgac ggatccgcac gcgatgcggg acatggcggg ccgttttgag 60 gtgcacgccc agacggtgga ggacgaggct cgccggatgt gggcgtccgc gcaaaacatc 120 tcgggcgcgg gctggagtgg catggccgag gcgacctcgc tagacaccat gacccagatg 180 aatcaggcgt ttcgcaacat cgtgaacatg ctgcacgggg tgcgtgacgg gctggttcgc 240 gacgccaaca actacgaaca gcaagagcag gcctcccagc agatcctcag cagctga 297 179 98 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 179 Met Ala Ser Arg Phe Met Thr Asp Pro His Ala Met Arg Asp Met Ala 1 5 10 15 Gly Arg Phe Glu Val His Ala Gln Thr Val Glu Asp Glu Ala Arg Arg 20 25 30 Met Trp Ala Ser Ala Gln Asn Ile Ser Gly Ala Gly Trp Ser Gly Met 35 40 45 Ala Glu Ala Thr Ser Leu Asp Thr Met Thr Gln Met Asn Gln Ala Phe 50 55 60 Arg Asn Ile Val Asn Met Leu His Gly Val Arg Asp Gly Leu Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Asp Ala Asn Asn Tyr Glu Gln Gln Glu Gln Ala Ser Gln Gln Ile Leu 85 90 95 Ser Ser 180 297 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 180 atggcctcac gttttatgac ggatccgcac gcgatgcggg acatggcggg ccgttttgag 60 gtgcacgccc agacggtgga ggacgaggct cgccggatgt gggcgtccgc gcaaaacatt 120 tccggtgcgg gctggagtgg catggccgag gcgacctcgc tagacaccat ggcccagatg 180 aatcaggcgt ttcgcaacat cgtgaacatg ctgcacgggg tgcgtgacgg gctggttcgc 240 gacgccaaca actacgagca gcaagagcag gcctcccagc agatcctcag cagctaa 297 181 98 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 181 Met Ala Ser Arg Phe Met Thr Asp Pro His Ala Met Arg Asp Met Ala 1 5 10 15 Gly Arg Phe Glu Val His Ala Gln Thr Val Glu Asp Glu Ala Arg Arg 20 25 30 Met Trp Ala Ser Ala Gln Asn Ile Ser Gly Ala Gly Trp Ser Gly Met 35 40 45 Ala Glu Ala Thr Ser Leu Asp Thr Met Ala Gln Met Asn Gln Ala Phe 50 55 60 Arg Asn Ile Val Asn Met Leu His Gly Val Arg Asp Gly Leu Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Asp Ala Asn Asn Tyr Glu Gln Gln Glu Gln Ala Ser Gln Gln Ile Leu 85 90 95 Ser Ser 182 297 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 182 atggcctcac gttttatgac ggatccgcat gcgatgcggg acatggcggg ccgttttgag 60 gtgcacgccc agacggtgga ggacgaggct cgccggatgt gggcgtccgc gcaaaacatt 120 tccggtgcgg gctggagtgg catggccgag gcgacctcgc tagacaccat gacctagatg 180 aatcaggcgt ttcgcaacat cgtgaacatg ctgcacgggg tgcgtgacgg gctggttcgc 240 gacgccaaca actacgaaca gcaagagcag gcctcccagc agatcctgag cagctag 297 183 98 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 183 Met Ala Ser Arg Phe Met Thr Asp Pro His Ala Met Arg Asp Met Ala 1 5 10 15 Gly Arg Phe Glu Val His Ala Gln Thr Val Glu Asp Glu Ala Arg Arg 20 25 30 Met Trp Ala Ser Ala Gln Asn Ile Ser Gly Ala Gly Trp Ser Gly Met 35 40 45 Ala Glu Ala Thr Ser Leu Asp Thr Met Thr Gln Met Asn Gln Ala Phe 50 55 60 Arg Asn Ile Val Asn Met Leu His Gly Val Arg Asp Gly Leu Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Asp Ala Asn Asn Tyr Glu Gln Gln Glu Gln Ala Ser Gln Gln Ile Leu 85 90 95 Ser Ser 184 297 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 184 atgacctcgc gttttatgac ggatccgcac gcgatgcggg acatggcggg ccgttttgag 60 gtgcacgccc agacggtgga ggacgaggct cgccggatgt gggcgtccgc gcaaaacatt 120 tccggcgcgg gctggagtgg catggccgag gcgacctcgc tagacaccat gacccagatg 180 aatcaggcgt ttcgcaacat cgtgaacatg ctgcacgggg tgcgtgacgg gctggttcgc 240 gacgccaaca actacgaaca gcaagagcag gcctcccagc agatcctcag cagctga 297 185 98 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 185 Met Thr Ser Arg Phe Met Thr Asp Pro His Ala Met Arg Asp Met Ala 1 5 10 15 Gly Arg Phe Glu Val His Ala Gln Thr Val Glu Asp Glu Ala Arg Arg 20 25 30 Met Trp Ala Ser Ala Gln Asn Ile Ser Gly Ala Gly Trp Ser Gly Met 35 40 45 Ala Glu Ala Thr Ser Leu Asp Thr Met Thr Gln Met Asn Gln Ala Phe 50 55 60 Arg Asn Ile Val Asn Met Leu His Gly Val Arg Asp Gly Leu Val Arg 65 70 75 80 Asp Ala Asn Asn Tyr Glu Gln Gln Glu Gln Ala Ser Gln Gln Ile Leu 85 90 95 Ser Ser 186 20 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 186 ggaatgaaaa ggggtttgtg 20 187 20 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 187 gaccacgccc gcgccgtgtg 20 188 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 188 gcaacacccg ggatgtcgca gattatg 27 189 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 189 ctaagcttgg atccctagcc gccccacttg 30 190 22 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 190 gaatatttga aagggattcg tg 22 191 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 191 ctactaagct tggatcctta gtctccggcg 30 192 27 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 192 gcaacacccg gggtgtcgca gagtatg 27 193 30 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 193 ctactaagct tggatcctta gtctccggcg 30 194 381 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (91)..(378) 194 ggccgccggt acctatgtgg ccgccgatgc tgcggacgcg tcgacctata ccgggttctg 60 atcgaaccct gctgaccgag aggacttgtg atg tcg caa atc atg tac aac tac 114 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr 1 5 ccc gcg atg ttg ggt cac gcc ggg gat atg gcc gga tat gcc ggc acg 162 Pro Ala Met Leu Gly His Ala Gly Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr 10 15 20 ctg cag agc ttg ggt gcc gag atc gcc gtg gag cag gcc gcg ttg cag 210 Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Glu Ile Ala Val Glu Gln Ala Ala Leu Gln 25 30 35 40 agt gcg tgg cag ggc gat acc ggg atc acg tat cag gcg tgg cag gca 258 Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly Ile Thr Tyr Gln Ala Trp Gln Ala 45 50 55 cag tgg aac cag gcc atg gaa gat ttg gtg cgg gcc tat cat gcg atg 306 Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Asp Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr His Ala Met 60 65 70 tcc agc acc cat gaa gcc aac acc atg gcg atg atg gcc cgc gac acc 354 Ser Ser Thr His Glu Ala Asn Thr Met Ala Met Met Ala Arg Asp Thr 75 80 85 gcc gaa gcc gcc aaa tgg ggc ggc tag 381 Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 90 95 195 96 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 195 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Leu Gly His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Glu Ile 20 25 30 Ala Val Glu Gln Ala Ala Leu Gln Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly 35 40 45 Ile Thr Tyr Gln Ala Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Asp 50 55 60 Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr His Ala Met Ser Ser Thr His Glu Ala Asn Thr 65 70 75 80 Met Ala Met Met Ala Arg Asp Thr Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 85 90 95 196 363 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(360) 196 gtg tcg cag agt atg tac agc tac ccg gcg atg acg gcc aat gtc gga 48 Val Ser Gln Ser Met Tyr Ser Tyr Pro Ala Met Thr Ala Asn Val Gly 1 5 10 15 gac atg gcc ggt tat acg ggc acg acg cag agc ttg ggg gcc gat atc 96 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Thr Gly Thr Thr Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile 20 25 30 gcc agt gag cgc acc gcg ccg tcg cgt gct tgc caa ggt gat ctc ggg 144 Ala Ser Glu Arg Thr Ala Pro Ser Arg Ala Cys Gln Gly Asp Leu Gly 35 40 45 atg agt cat cag gac tgg cag gcc cag tgg aat cag gcc atg gag gct 192 Met Ser His Gln Asp Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Ala 50 55 60 ctc gcg cgg gcc tac cgt cgg tgc cgg cga gca cta cgc cag atc ggg 240 Leu Ala Arg Ala Tyr Arg Arg Cys Arg Arg Ala Leu Arg Gln Ile Gly 65 70 75 80 gtg ctg gaa agg ccg gta ggc gat tcg tca gac tgc gga acg att agg 288 Val Leu Glu Arg Pro Val Gly Asp Ser Ser Asp Cys Gly Thr Ile Arg 85 90 95 gtg ggg tcg ttc cgg ggt cgg tgg ctg gac ccg cgc cat gcg ggt cca 336 Val Gly Ser Phe Arg Gly Arg Trp Leu Asp Pro Arg His Ala Gly Pro 100 105 110 gcc acg gcc gcc gac gcc gga gac taa 363 Ala Thr Ala Ala Asp Ala Gly Asp 115 120 197 120 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 197 Val Ser Gln Ser Met Tyr Ser Tyr Pro Ala Met Thr Ala Asn Val Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Thr Gly Thr Thr Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile 20 25 30 Ala Ser Glu Arg Thr Ala Pro Ser Arg Ala Cys Gln Gly Asp Leu Gly 35 40 45 Met Ser His Gln Asp Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Ala 50 55 60 Leu Ala Arg Ala Tyr Arg Arg Cys Arg Arg Ala Leu Arg Gln Ile Gly 65 70 75 80 Val Leu Glu Arg Pro Val Gly Asp Ser Ser Asp Cys Gly Thr Ile Arg 85 90 95 Val Gly Ser Phe Arg Gly Arg Trp Leu Asp Pro Arg His Ala Gly Pro 100 105 110 Ala Thr Ala Ala Asp Ala Gly Asp 115 120 198 291 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(288) 198 atg tcg cag att atg tac aac tat ccg gcg atg atg gct cat gcc ggg 48 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Met Ala His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 gac atg gcc ggt tat gcg ggc acg ctg cag agc ttg ggg gcc gat atc 96 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile 20 25 30 gcc agt gag cag gcc gtg ctg tcc agt gct tgg cag ggt gat acc ggg 144 Ala Ser Glu Gln Ala Val Leu Ser Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly 35 40 45 atc acg tat cag ggc tgg cag acc cag tgg aac cag gcc cta gag gat 192 Ile Thr Tyr Gln Gly Trp Gln Thr Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Leu Glu Asp 50 55 60 ctg gtg cgg gcc tat cag tcg atg tct ggc acc cat gag tcc aac acc 240 Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr Gln Ser Met Ser Gly Thr His Glu Ser Asn Thr 65 70 75 80 atg gcg atg ttg gct cga gat ggg gcc gaa gcc gcc aag tgg ggc ggc 288 Met Ala Met Leu Ala Arg Asp Gly Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 85 90 95 tag 291 199 96 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 199 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Met Ala His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile 20 25 30 Ala Ser Glu Gln Ala Val Leu Ser Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly 35 40 45 Ile Thr Tyr Gln Gly Trp Gln Thr Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Leu Glu Asp 50 55 60 Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr Gln Ser Met Ser Gly Thr His Glu Ser Asn Thr 65 70 75 80 Met Ala Met Leu Ala Arg Asp Gly Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 85 90 95 200 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 200 atg tcg cag att atg tac aac tat ccg gcg atg atg gct cat gcc ggg 48 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Met Ala His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 gac atg gcc ggt 60 Asp Met Ala Gly 20 201 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 201 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Met Ala His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly 20 202 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 202 atg atg gct cat gcc ggg gac atg gcc ggt tat gcg ggc acg ctg cag 48 Met Met Ala His Ala Gly Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln 1 5 10 15 agc ttg ggg gcc 60 Ser Leu Gly Ala 20 203 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 203 Met Met Ala His Ala Gly Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln 1 5 10 15 Ser Leu Gly Ala 20 204 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 204 tat gcg ggc acg ctg cag agc ttg ggg gcc gat atc gcc agt gag cag 48 Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Gln 1 5 10 15 gcc gtg ctg tcc 60 Ala Val Leu Ser 20 205 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 205 Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Gln 1 5 10 15 Ala Val Leu Ser 20 206 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 206 gat atc gcc agt gag cag gcc gtg ctg tcc agt gct tgg cag ggt gat 48 Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Gln Ala Val Leu Ser Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp 1 5 10 15 acc ggg atc acg 60 Thr Gly Ile Thr 20 207 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 207 Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Gln Ala Val Leu Ser Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp 1 5 10 15 Thr Gly Ile Thr 20 208 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 208 agt gct tgg cag ggt gat acc ggg atc acg tat cag ggc tgg cag acc 48 Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly Ile Thr Tyr Gln Gly Trp Gln Thr 1 5 10 15 cag tgg aac cag 60 Gln Trp Asn Gln 20 209 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 209 Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly Ile Thr Tyr Gln Gly Trp Gln Thr 1 5 10 15 Gln Trp Asn Gln 20 210 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 210 tat cag ggc tgg cag acc cag tgg aac cag gcc cta gag gat ctg gtg 48 Tyr Gln Gly Trp Gln Thr Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Leu Glu Asp Leu Val 1 5 10 15 cgg gcc tat cag 60 Arg Ala Tyr Gln 20 211 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 211 Tyr Gln Gly Trp Gln Thr Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Leu Glu Asp Leu Val 1 5 10 15 Arg Ala Tyr Gln 20 212 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 212 gcc cta gag gat ctg gtg cgg gcc tat cag tcg atg tct ggc acc cat 48 Ala Leu Glu Asp Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr Gln Ser Met Ser Gly Thr His 1 5 10 15 gag tcc aac acc 60 Glu Ser Asn Thr 20 213 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 213 Ala Leu Glu Asp Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr Gln Ser Met Ser Gly Thr His 1 5 10 15 Glu Ser Asn Thr 20 214 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 214 tcg atg tct ggc acc cat gag tcc aac acc atg gcg atg ttg gct cga 48 Ser Met Ser Gly Thr His Glu Ser Asn Thr Met Ala Met Leu Ala Arg 1 5 10 15 gat ggg gcc gaa 60 Asp Gly Ala Glu 20 215 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 215 Ser Met Ser Gly Thr His Glu Ser Asn Thr Met Ala Met Leu Ala Arg 1 5 10 15 Asp Gly Ala Glu 20 216 48 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(48) 216 atg gcg atg ttg gct cga gat ggg gcc gaa gcc gcc aag tgg ggc ggc 48 Met Ala Met Leu Ala Arg Asp Gly Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 1 5 10 15 217 16 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 217 Met Ala Met Leu Ala Arg Asp Gly Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 1 5 10 15 218 54 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(54) 218 atg tcg caa atc atg tac aac tac ccc gcg atg ttg ggt cac gcc ggg 48 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Leu Gly His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 gat atg 54 Asp Met 219 18 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 219 Met Ser Gln Ile Met Tyr Asn Tyr Pro Ala Met Leu Gly His Ala Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met 220 54 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(54) 220 atg ttg ggt cac gcc ggg gat atg gcc gga tat gcc ggc acg ctg cag 48 Met Leu Gly His Ala Gly Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln 1 5 10 15 agc ttg 54 Ser Leu 221 18 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 221 Met Leu Gly His Ala Gly Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln 1 5 10 15 Ser Leu 222 54 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(54) 222 tat gcc ggc acg ctg cag agc ttg ggt gcc gag atc gcc gtg gag cag 48 Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Glu Ile Ala Val Glu Gln 1 5 10 15 gcc gcg 54 Ala Ala 223 18 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 223 Tyr Ala Gly Thr Leu Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Glu Ile Ala Val Glu Gln 1 5 10 15 Ala Ala 224 54 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(54) 224 gag atc gcc gtg gag cag gcc gcg ttg cag agt gcg tgg cag ggc gat 48 Glu Ile Ala Val Glu Gln Ala Ala Leu Gln Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp 1 5 10 15 acc ggg 54 Thr Gly 225 18 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 225 Glu Ile Ala Val Glu Gln Ala Ala Leu Gln Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp 1 5 10 15 Thr Gly 226 54 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(54) 226 agt gcg tgg cag ggc gat acc ggg atc acg tat cag gcg tgg cag gca 48 Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly Ile Thr Tyr Gln Ala Trp Gln Ala 1 5 10 15 cag tgg 54 Gln Trp 227 18 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 227 Ser Ala Trp Gln Gly Asp Thr Gly Ile Thr Tyr Gln Ala Trp Gln Ala 1 5 10 15 Gln Trp 228 51 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(51) 228 tat cag gcg tgg cag gca cag tgg aac cag gcc atg gaa gat ttg gtg 48 Tyr Gln Ala Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Asp Leu Val 1 5 10 15 cgg 51 Arg 229 17 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 229 Tyr Gln Ala Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Asp Leu Val 1 5 10 15 Arg 230 54 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(54) 230 gcc atg gaa gat ttg gtg cgg gcc tat cat gcg atg tcc agc acc cat 48 Ala Met Glu Asp Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr His Ala Met Ser Ser Thr His 1 5 10 15 gaa gcc 54 Glu Ala 231 18 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 231 Ala Met Glu Asp Leu Val Arg Ala Tyr His Ala Met Ser Ser Thr His 1 5 10 15 Glu Ala 232 54 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(54) 232 gcg atg tcc agc acc cat gaa gcc aac acc atg gcg atg atg gcc cgc 48 Ala Met Ser Ser Thr His Glu Ala Asn Thr Met Ala Met Met Ala Arg 1 5 10 15 gac acg 54 Asp Thr 233 18 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 233 Ala Met Ser Ser Thr His Glu Ala Asn Thr Met Ala Met Met Ala Arg 1 5 10 15 Asp Thr 234 48 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(48) 234 atg gcg atg atg gcc cgc gac acc gcc gaa gcc gcc aaa tgg ggc ggc 48 Met Ala Met Met Ala Arg Asp Thr Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 1 5 10 15 235 16 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 235 Met Ala Met Met Ala Arg Asp Thr Ala Glu Ala Ala Lys Trp Gly Gly 1 5 10 15 236 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 236 gtg tcg cag agt atg tac agc tac ccg gcg atg acg gcc aat gtc gga 48 Val Ser Gln Ser Met Tyr Ser Tyr Pro Ala Met Thr Ala Asn Val Gly 1 5 10 15 gac atg gcc ggt 60 Asp Met Ala Gly 20 237 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 237 Val Ser Gln Ser Met Tyr Ser Tyr Pro Ala Met Thr Ala Asn Val Gly 1 5 10 15 Asp Met Ala Gly 20 238 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 238 atg acg gcc aat gtc gga gac atg gcc ggt tat acg ggc acg acg cag 48 Met Thr Ala Asn Val Gly Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Thr Gly Thr Thr Gln 1 5 10 15 agc ttg ggg gcc 60 Ser Leu Gly Ala 20 239 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 239 Met Thr Ala Asn Val Gly Asp Met Ala Gly Tyr Thr Gly Thr Thr Gln 1 5 10 15 Ser Leu Gly Ala 20 240 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 240 tat acg ggc acg acg cag agc ttg ggg gcc gat atc gcc agt gag cgc 48 Tyr Thr Gly Thr Thr Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Arg 1 5 10 15 acc gcg ccg tcg 60 Thr Ala Pro Ser 20 241 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 241 Tyr Thr Gly Thr Thr Gln Ser Leu Gly Ala Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Arg 1 5 10 15 Thr Ala Pro Ser 20 242 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 242 gat atc gcc agt gag cgc acc gcg ccg tcg cgt gct tgc caa ggt gat 48 Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Arg Thr Ala Pro Ser Arg Ala Cys Gln Gly Asp 1 5 10 15 ctc ggg atg agt 60 Leu Gly Met Ser 20 243 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 243 Asp Ile Ala Ser Glu Arg Thr Ala Pro Ser Arg Ala Cys Gln Gly Asp 1 5 10 15 Leu Gly Met Ser 20 244 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 244 cgt gct tgc caa ggt gat ctc ggg atg agt cat cag gac tgg cag gcc 48 Arg Ala Cys Gln Gly Asp Leu Gly Met Ser His Gln Asp Trp Gln Ala 1 5 10 15 cag tgg aat cag 60 Gln Trp Asn Gln 20 245 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 245 Arg Ala Cys Gln Gly Asp Leu Gly Met Ser His Gln Asp Trp Gln Ala 1 5 10 15 Gln Trp Asn Gln 20 246 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 246 cat cag gac tgg cag gcc cag tgg aat cag gcc atg gag gct ctc gcg 48 His Gln Asp Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Ala Leu Ala 1 5 10 15 cgg gcc tac cgt 60 Arg Ala Tyr Arg 20 247 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 247 His Gln Asp Trp Gln Ala Gln Trp Asn Gln Ala Met Glu Ala Leu Ala 1 5 10 15 Arg Ala Tyr Arg 20 248 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 248 gcc atg gag gct ctc gcg cgg gcc tac cgt cgg tgc cgg cga gca cta 48 Ala Met Glu Ala Leu Ala Arg Ala Tyr Arg Arg Cys Arg Arg Ala Leu 1 5 10 15 cgc cag atc ggg 60 Arg Gln Ile Gly 20 249 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 249 Ala Met Glu Ala Leu Ala Arg Ala Tyr Arg Arg Cys Arg Arg Ala Leu 1 5 10 15 Arg Gln Ile Gly 20 250 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 250 cgg tgc cgg cga gca cta cgc cag atc ggg gtg ctg gaa agg ccg gta 48 Arg Cys Arg Arg Ala Leu Arg Gln Ile Gly Val Leu Glu Arg Pro Val 1 5 10 15 ggc gat tcg tca 60 Gly Asp Ser Ser 20 251 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 251 Arg Cys Arg Arg Ala Leu Arg Gln Ile Gly Val Leu Glu Arg Pro Val 1 5 10 15 Gly Asp Ser Ser 20 252 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDS (1)..(60) 252 gtg ctg gaa agg ccg gta ggc gat tcg tca gac tgc gga acg att agg 48 Val Leu Glu Arg Pro Val Gly Asp Ser Ser Asp Cys Gly Thr Ile Arg 1 5 10 15 gtg ggg tcg ttc 60 Val Gly Ser Phe 20 253 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 253 Val Leu Glu Arg Pro Val Gly Asp Ser Ser Asp Cys Gly Thr Ile Arg 1 5 10 15 Val Gly Ser Phe 20 254 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 254 gactgcggaa cgattagggt ggggtcgttc cggggtcggt ggctggaccc gcgccatgcg 60 255 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 255 Asp Cys Gly Thr Ile Arg Val Gly Ser Phe Arg Gly Arg Trp Leu Asp 1 5 10 15 Pro Arg His Ala 20 256 60 DNA Mycobacterium tuberculosis 256 cggggtcggt ggctggaccc gcgccatgcg ggtccagcca cggccgccga cgccggagac 60 257 20 PRT Mycobacterium tuberculosis 257 Arg Gly Arg Trp Leu Asp Pro Arg His Ala Gly Pro Ala Thr Ala Ala 1 5 10 15 Asp Ala Gly Asp 20 

What is claimed is:
 1. A substantially pure polypeptide, which comprises an amino acid sequence selected from (a) the group consisting of Rv0288 (SEQ ID NO: 2) and its homologues Rv3019c (SEQ ID NO: 199) and Rv3017c (SEQ ID NO: 197); (b) an immunogenic portion, e.g. a T-cell epitope, of any one of the sequences in (a); and/or (c) an amino acid sequence analogue having at least 70% sequence identity to any one of the sequences in (a) or (b) and at the same time being immunogenic.
 2. A substantial pure polypeptide according to claim 1, wherein the amino acid sequence analogue has at least 80% sequence identity to a sequence in (a) or (b).
 3. A fusion polypeptide which comprises an amino acid sequence selected from (a) the group consisting of Rv0288 (SEQ ID NO: 2) and its homologues Rv3019c (SEQ ID NO: 199) and Rv3017c (SEQ ID NO: 197); (b) an immunogenic portion, e.g. a T-cell epitope, of any one of the sequences in (a); and /or (c) an amino acid sequence analogue having at least 70% sequence identity to any one of the sequences in (a) or (b) and at the same time being immunogenic; and at least one fusion partner.
 4. A fusion polypeptide according to claim 3, wherein the fusion partner comprises a polypeptide fragment selected from (a) a polypeptide fragment derived from a virulent mycobacterium, such as ESAT-6, MPB64, MPT64, TB10.4, CFP10, RD1-ORF5, RD1-ORF2, Rv1036, Ag85A, Ag85B, Ag85C, 19 kDa lipoprotein, MPT32, MPB59 and alpha-crystallin; (b) a polypeptide according to claim 1 and/or (c) at least one immunogenic portion, e.g. a T-cell epitope, of any of the polypeptides in (a) or (b).
 5. A polypeptide which comprises an amino acid sequence selected from (a) the group consisting of Rv0288 (SEQ ID NO: 2) and its homologues Rv3019c (SEQ ID NO: 199) and Rv3017c (SEQ ID NO: 197); (b) an immunogenic portion, e.g. a T-cell epitope, of any one of the sequences in (a); and/or (c) an amino acid sequence analogue having at least 70% sequence identity to any one of the sequences in (a) or (b) and at the same time being immunogenic; which is lipidated so as to allow a self-adjuvating effect of the polypeptide.
 6. A substantially pure polypeptide according to any of the claims 1-5 for use as a vaccine, as a pharmaceutical or as a diagnostic reagent.
 7. Use of a polypeptide according to any of the preceding claims for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition for diagnosis, e.g. for diagnosis of tuberculosis caused by virulent mycobacteria, e.g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis.
 8. Use of a polypeptide according to any of the preceding claims for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition, e.g. for the vaccination against infections caused by virulent mycobacteria, e.g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis.
 9. An immunogenic composition comprising a polypeptide according to any of the preceding claims.
 10. An immunogenic composition according to claim 9, which is in the form of a vaccine.
 11. An immunogenic composition according to claim 9, which is in the form of a skin test reagent.
 12. A nucleic acid fragment in isolated form which (a) comprises a nucleic acid sequence which encodes a polypeptide as defined in any of claims 1-6, or comprises a nucleic acid sequence complementary thereto; or (b) has a length of at least 10 nucleotides and hybridizes readily under stringent hybridization conditions with a nucleotide sequence selected from Rv0288 and its homologues Rv3019c or Rv3017c; nucleotide sequences or a sequence complementary thereto, or with a nucleotide sequence selected from a sequence in (a).
 13. A nucleic acid fragment according to claim 12, which is a DNA fragment.
 14. A nucleic acid fragment according to claim 12 or 13 for use as a pharmaceutical.
 15. A vaccine comprising a nucleic acid fragment according to claim 12 or 13, optionally inserted in a vector, the vaccine effecting in vivo expression of antigen by an animal, including a human being, to whom the vaccine has been administered, the amount of expressed antigen being effective to confer substantially increased resistance to tuberculosis caused by virulent mycobacteria, e.g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis, in an animal, including a human being.
 16. Use of a nucleic acid fragment according to claim 12 or 13 for the preparation of a composition for the diagnosis of tuberculosis caused by virulent mycobacteria, e. g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis.
 17. Use of a nucleic acid fragment according to claim 12 or 13 for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition for the vaccination against tuberculosis caused by virulent mycobacteria, e.g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis.
 18. A vaccine for immunizing an animal, including a human being, against tuberculosis caused by virulent mycobacteria, e.g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis, comprising as the effective component a non-pathogenic microorganism, wherein at least one copy of a DNA fragment comprising a DNA sequence encoding a polypeptide according to any of claims 1-6 has been incorporated into the microorganism (e.g. placed on a plasmid or in the genome) in a manner allowing the microorganism to express and optionally secrete the polypeptide.
 19. A replicable expression vector which comprises a nucleic acid fragment according to claim 12 or
 13. 20. A transformed cell harbouring at least one vector according to claim
 19. 21. A method for producing a polypeptide according to any of claims 1-6, comprising (a) inserting a nucleic acid fragment according to claim 12 or 13 into a vector which is able to replicate in a host cell, introducing the resulting recombinant vector into the host cell, culturing the host cell in a culture medium under conditions sufficient to effect expression of the polypeptide, and recovering the polypeptide from the host cell or culture medium; (b) isolating the polypeptide from a whole mycobacterium, e.g. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis, from culture filtrate or from lysates or fractions thereof; or (c) synthesizing the polypeptide e.g. by solid or liquid phase peptide synthesis.
 22. A method of diagnosing tuberculosis caused by virulent mycobacteria, e.g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis, in an animal, including a human being, comprising intradermally injecting, in the animal, a polypeptide according to any of claims 1-6 or an immunogenic composition according to claim 9, a positive skin response at the location of injection being indicative of the animal having tuberculosis, and a negative skin response at the location of injection being indicative of the animal not having tuberculosis.
 23. A method for immunising an animal, including a human being, against tuberculosis caused by virulent mycobacteria, e.g. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum or Mycobacterium bovis, comprising administering to the animal the polypeptide according to any of claims 1-6, the immunogenic composition according to claim 9, or the vaccine according to claim
 18. 24. A monoclonal or polyclonal antibody which is specifically reacting with a polypeptide according to any of claims 1-6 in an immuno assay, or a specific binding fragment of said antibody.
 25. A monoclonal or polyclonal antibody which is specifically reacting with a polypeptide according to any of claims 1-6 in an immuno assay, or a specific binding fragment of said antibody, for use as a diagnostic reagent, e.g. for detection of mycobacterial antigens in sputum, urine or other body fluids of an infected animal, including a human being.
 26. A pharmaceutical composition which comprises an immunologically responsive amount of at least one member selected from the group consisting of: (a) a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of Rv0288 (SEQ ID NO: 2), Rv3019c (SEQ ID NO: 199), Rv3017c (SEQ ID NO: 197) and an immunogenic portion of any of these polypeptides; (b) an amino acid sequence which has a sequence identity of at least 70% to any one of said polypeptides in (a) and is immunogenic; (c) a fusion polypeptide comprising at least one polypeptide or amino acid sequence according to (a) or (b) and at least one fusion partner; (d) a nucleic acid sequence which encodes a polypeptide or amino acid sequence according to (a), (b) or (c); (e) a nucleic acid sequence which is complementary to a sequence according to (d); (f) a nucleic acid sequence which has a length of at least 10 nucleotides and which hybridizes under stringent conditions with a nucleic acid sequence according to (d) or (e); and (g) a non-pathogenic micro-organism which has incorporated (e.g. placed on a plasmid or in the genome) therein a nucleic acid sequence according to (d), (e) or (f) in a manner to permit expression of a polypeptide encoded thereby.
 27. A method for stimulating an immunogenic response in an animal which comprises administering to said animal an immunologically stimulating amount of at least one member selected from the group consisting of: (a) a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of Rv0288 (SEQ ID NO: 2), Rv3019c (SEQ ID NO: 199), Rv3017c (SEQ ID NO: 197) and an immunogenic portion of any of these polypeptides; (b) an amino acid sequence which has a sequence identity of at least 70% to any one of said polypeptides in (a) and is immunogenic; (c) a fusion polypeptide comprising at least one polypeptide or amino acid sequence according to (a) or (b) and at least one fusion partner; (d) a nucleic acid sequence which encodes a polypeptide or amino acid sequence according to (a), (b) or (c); (e) a nucleic acid sequence which is complementary to a sequence according to (d); (f) a nucleic acid sequence which has a length of at least 10 nucleotides and which hybridizes under stringent conditions with a nucleic acid sequence according to (d) or (e); and (g) a non-pathogenic micro-organism which has incorporated therein (e.g. placed on a plasmid or in the genome) a nucleic acid sequence according to (d), (e) or (f) in a manner to permit expression of a polypeptide encoded thereby.
 28. Vaccine according to claim 15 or 18, immunogenic composition according to claim 10 or pharmaceutical composition according to claim 26, characterized in that said vaccine/immunogenic composion/pharmaceutical composition can be used prophylactically in a subject not infected with a virulent mycobacterium; or therapeutically in a subject already infected with a virulent mycobacterium.
 29. A method for diagnosing previous or ongoing infection with a virulent mycobacterium, said method comprising (a) contacting a sample, e.g. a blood sample, with a composition comprising an antibody according to claim 24 or 25, a nucleic acid fragment according to any of claims 12-14 and/or a polypeptide according to any of claims 1-6, or (b) contacting a sample, e.g. a blood sample comprising mononuclear cells (e.g. T-lymphocytes), with a composition comprising one or more polypeptides according to any of claims 1-6 in order to detect a positive reaction, e.g. proliferation of the cells or release of cytokines such as IFN-γ. 